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Hi. I'm Yvonne. A lifetime ago I was on the NF boards, completed a bunch of fantastic challenges, lost 20lbs, leveled up my life, had an exciting pregnancy announcement, dropped off the boards during the actual pregnancy, briefly came back, dropped off again, and now here I am. I've leveled up in new ways, gained and lost weight, tried other programs to keep me motivated, and somehow keep coming back. NerdFitness, my my happy, get-shit-done home. A little bit about me: I'm in my mid-30s, use she/her pronouns, happily married in suburbia but not too far from great hiking and a killer bike path. That baby I mentioned is now a wacky 4 year old and has a 1 year old sister. I'm a web application developer and I'm actually starting at a new company next month, which I'm quite excited about. But generally my line of work means that I sit on my butt all day. I walk the kids to daycare almost every morning but otherwise don't do a ton of exercise - that's typically been one of my areas to improve. I've done paleo and Whole30 and was quite successful in losing weight with those plans! But these days I'd rather have the flexibility to eat an ice cream cone with my kiddo or have a beer with the husband than stick to a strict diet plan. I'm learning to find balance. I love mega-themed challenges. I've been around NF long enough to remember the old RPG system and I still like to use it. I've successfully completed 9 challenges and not completed probably half a dozen more. I build huge complicated spreadsheets to track my progress because they make my little nerd heart happy. I use an excessive amount of gifs. And my username is not just an obscure reference to my favorite late 90s band - I tend to write, like, a lot. Project Phoenix I picked Iron Man for this come-back challenge because, honestly, what better metaphor than the superhero that rebooted the Avengers franchise? And while I'm not a quite the human train-wreck Tony is, I feel like I've got some lessons to learn about self improvement - a challenge that Tony struggled with through the entire franchise. Plus, my son really likes Iron Man and it reminds me of my real motivation - staying healthy so I can be active with my family for a long time. I'm trying out a new bonus structure this time to help keep motivation high and encourage me to keep trying even when I tend to fall off mid-challenge. GOALS: 1. Power Your Arc Reactor (2 CON) Look, Tony Stark probably has a personal chef and a nutritionalist to keep him in Iron Man fighting shape. At the very least Goop is keeping him fed with her 5 budgeted limes. The rest of us gotta find our our time to do this shit. But as Iron Man knows, you need a strong arc reactor to power your body... or your supersuit. For me, this comes in the form of eating nutritious meals. I'm starting out by getting back into the regular habit of eating more vegetables - four times a day. Goal: 4 servings of vegetables a day Total Possible Points: 140 points Grading: A > 125 points | B > 110 points | C > 95 points | D > 85 points | F < 85 points 🌟 Bonus🌟 +5 points for meal planning at the start of the week! 2. Less is More (2 CON) Surviving on less is probably a challenge billionaire Tony never had to face... until he was taken prisoner and forced to rebuild his body in the worst possible conditions. While that's not something I'd wish on my own worst enemy, I do think a little forced economy can have its benefits. I've been playing around with IF for a couple months now and want to really commit for this challenge: no meals (or snacks!) before 12pm or after 8pm (16/8). My one exception is coffee with a little half and half... even superheroes have their indulgences. Goal: IF (16/8) 6x a Week (with a coffee exception) Total Possible Points: 30 points Grading: A > 27 points | B > 24 points | C > 21 points | D > 18 points | F < 18 points 🌟 Bonus🌟 +1 point for fasting all 7 days 3. Train like a Superhero (2 STA + 1 STR) Avengers gotta train - even Tony can be found hitting the bag. Currently I'm walking to daycare 4-5x a week, and for a month or so we were going on family bike rides every weekend. But I'd really like to ramp that up. You can't outrun your fork of course, but I think a regular pattern of exercise helps focus me on the goal and sets a good example for my family. I see this as: walking an extra 30min a day; running for 20 min; a casual bike ride with the kids; hot yoga maybe? I don't know, I want to explore some possibilities. For a bonus: an intense bike ride (like 2+ hours) is worth 3 points because frankly that's a lot of work. Goal: Exercise 3x a week Total Possible Points: 30 points Grading: A > 14 points | B > 13 points | C > 12 points | D > 11 points | F < 11 points 🌟 Bonus🌟 + 3 for a 2+ hour bike ride 4. Work like Pepper Potts (2 WIS) Forget Tony Stark for a moment - Pepper's the real #bossbabe (or maybe a less icky version of that phrase). Anyway, I've got three weeks left at my current job and it would be far too easy to waste the time. I want to stay focused and start my new job on the right foot, so I'm going back to Bullet Journaling. It worked great for me in a previous challenge, but I've only used it sparingly since then. Goal: Complete 5 tasks every business day Total Possible Points: 125 points Grading: A > 110 points | B > 100 points | C > 85 points | D > 70 points | F < 70 points 🌟 Bonus🌟 +1 for a creative page per week Reward: Sure, health is its own reward, plus those sweet sweet imaginary stat points - but I've found that a little extra motivation can go a long way. So for every A, I get a new piece of workout clothing. And I badly need a decent sports bra, so let's hope I succeed in at least one of these challenges! I have a lot of ideas for future challenges, but I'm trying to pace myself. A year of isolating has helped me learn me to take things a little slower - the time will pass anyway. I want to build a solid foundation and make smart decisions that will help me long term. Thanks anyone who read this far - I'm excited to be back at NerdFitness, surrounded by people who are trying to make their lives better every day!