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I made progress on my life quest in January - now to continue! Challenge: Move (physio, bodyweight workout, sledgehammer, cycling, swimming, etc. 5x per week) Stretch (5x per week) Eat (no snacks 5x per week) Life Quest: Finish updating that pesky resume! Again I will keep my daily hits and misses to my battle log, and use this thread for general "how am I doing/feeling" updates and thoughts. Fair warning: I am queer, agender, poly, and kinky. I will warn you if any content or links I share is NSFW, and put questionable stuff behind a cut.

I am strong. I am powerful. Challenge: Move (physio, bodyweight workout, sledgehammer, cycling, swimming, etc. 5x per week) Stretch (5x per week) Eat (no snacks 5x per week) Life Quest: Update that pesky resume! Again I will keep my daily hits and misses to my battle log, and use this thread for general "how am I doing/feeling" updates and thoughts. Fair warning: I am queer, agender, poly, and kinky. I will warn you if any content or links I share is NSFW, and put questionable stuff behind a cut.

It's time for my third challenge, everyone After powering through challenge no. 2, this time I will be joined by my boyfriend, who will go by Trevor Philips around here (his idea not mine ). Apparently, he was so inspired by all my epicness that he decided he needed come up with some goals for himself (this is the only explanation, don't tell me otherwise). He's been on his quest to Onederland for a while and has found that a low-carbish diet is the best provision for the road, but has been kicked out of the promised land repeatedly due to the seductive powers of starchy foods, his PS4 and Netflix. We'll start our own little deftona-inspired PvP for this challenge. The rules Each of us sets out on 3 quests each week, one diet-related, one exercise-related and a life quest of our own choosing (I labeled them food, fitness and fun, because alliterations). Each quest will reward 67 points if completed to 100% by the end of the week or less according to percentage of completion. The winner will earn a 30 minutes back massage. The loser will have sole responsibility for all litter box related chores for the whole next week *gasp* (this includes, but is not limited to: emptying the litter box several times a day, bringing down the litter-locker trash when it's full, refilling the litter box with new litter, vacuuming as often as possible to keep the litter box's surroundings free of litter, cleaning up in case one of our cats decides that sticking their but out of the litter box opening is a much more empowering way of relieving themselves). I do not want to clean the litter box. After each week, quests may be adjusted and the point counter is reset to 0. So, after some contemplation with friends last night I have come up with an (almost finished) plan for the first round: Briniel's quests Food Quest: Keep doing what I've been doing, avoid white flour, avoid industrial sugar, drink at least 2l of water a day, don't drink my calories. Track what I'm eating with MyFitnessPal. There will be food porn. In addition, there will be one of the following bonus food quests each week, to be determined with a roll of dice: eat fish or seafood 3 times (Week 1)try 10 different kinds of vegetableseat 100g of protein each daytry 5 completely new dishesstay under the caloriecount of MyFitnessPalThere's only five of these because I will have a pretty intense choir practice week October 12th through 18th, where I'll have choir rehearsals from pretty much 12 through 18 . There will be no additional quests for food or fitness that week. I will allow myself 1 bonus meal and 2 bonus snacks (e.g. sweets, dessert or drinks) over the course of the week. This is less than last challenge but will allow more flexibility and will hopefully keep me from over indulging in bonus food (not that it was a big problem last time, but I think I might still like this version better) Fitness Quest: Do some sort of exercise for 30+ minutes 4 times a week. This could be running, badminton, bww, swimming... anything really, as long as I do it for the sake of working out (driving my bike to meet friends doesn't count). Do 10+ minutes of yoga each day. In addition, I will do a different bonus workout challenge each week: move at least 1 hour every day (walking, running, workout, swimming, biking, yoga, whatever)do 300 push-ups (on my knees) over the course of the weeklearn 10 new yoga posesdo 100 burpees (with jumping, without push-ups) over the course of the weekwork on my deep squat 3 hours in total do something good for my joints (mobility work, special yoga sequences and the like) (Week 1)The bonus quests will be counted in percentage of completion to make them comparable over the different weeks. Fun Quest: Again, I've come up with a few different options and will determine which of these to do by rolling a dice. Details on what each of these entails will be posted when they've been rolled. Cats-WeekCleanup-WeekRepair-and-Mend-WeekDo-It-Now-WeekSocialise-WeekReading-WeekThere's 10 points to be earned per quest, divided on several activities, graded by how complicated or daunting that task is. Trevor's quests Food Quest: eat fruit or veggies 4 times a weekeat low-carb or semi low-carb every dayhave breakfast 3 times the first week, 4 times the second week and so onstay under 2000kcal every day Points to be earned each week: 25 Fitness Quest: Use the rowing machine 3 times a week. Do back health exercises 4 times a week. Points to be earned each week: 7 Fun Quest: He has several household chores he wants to do in varying intervals. Weekly ones include laundry and vacuuming. Not sure how we'll count this one.He also wants to better his driving behaviour (including a maximum speed despite no speed limits on the german Autobahn, staying under 6l/100kmh of oil and not being an asshole on the road ). There are 21 points to be earned each week but he'll count it as a win if he gets this 50% of the time, so let's say 10Last but not least he wants to better his sleeping behavior, getting into bed before midnight and getting up 6:30. To not ruin his weekend, this also counts as a win if done 50% of the time which is 7 points. Sexy Virgin Spreadsheet Time! See how neatly it all lines up? It's so pretty! I'll figure out how to count the plus and life quests later. The grading will be as follows: 50%: D - 0,5/3 or 0,5/2 stat points 65%: C - 1/3 or 1/2 stat points 80%: B - 2/3 or 1,5/2 stat points 95%: A - all stat points listed 100%: A+ - all stat points listed and bragging rights >100%; A++ - all stat points listed, bragging rights and a cherry on top So... let the battle begin!! (and may the odds be ever in your favor) Edit: 1 - I did win first place (in north-rhine-westfalia, not for the whole of germany) in Jugend musiziert, but it was with the tenor horn in a quartett and we did not play our own music. So this one's false. 2 - there were some girls that were bothering me and in recess I told my friends, asking them to help me talk to them about it. They misunderstood somehow. There were a lot of girls screaming and scratching each other that day and I had a lot of explaining to do afterwards 3 - this is totally true and has happened several times.

[Oh crap, I thought I had another week to get ready! o0! - ed.] Main Quest: Become My Own Hero In celebration of the recent completion of my first (and certainly not last) career in Mass Effect, I’m joining N7! I briefly considered going for one of the “pure†classes, but quickly thought better of it and rolled up a Vanguard - ME’s answer to the classic fighter/mage. My Shepard was a real sweetheart, friend to all living things, and a synthetic’s worst nightmare. Naturally, I relied heavily on the assistance of my crack engineering team, Tali and Garrus, but this challenge is based on the Vanguard skills that got Shep the farthest in his mission. tl;dnr Throw -3min Kip Up practice, 5 days/week Charm - 30 min/week creative writing practice Unity - Loving-Kindness Meditation, 2x/week Barrier - Stomach Vacuums, 4x15s 3x/week Shotguns - All HabitRPG Dailies complete everyday. Let’s get versatile!

I've been doing this for more than a year now, and I saw great improvements last year. Then I hit the inevitable plateau and started backsliding. I want my body to be strong, flexible, and able to do things like pushups, pullups, and handstands. I want to be leaner. I can make it happen! Things: No S diet (no snacks 5x per week) Stretching (5x per week) Cycling or bodyweight + sledgehammer (5x per week) Self care (5x per week)#4 is something I've needed to do for a while. If you've been following me for a little while, you may know that I get a laughably small amount of sleep most days. I'm also incredibly stressed, though I try and ignore it most of the time. BONUS QUEST: Finish the papercraft cake I'm making for my sister's wedding!

Main Quest: Become My Own Hero In my last challenge, I assembled a ragtag team of freedom fighters to stand up against their oppressors, who happened to have the support of the galaxy-renowned peacekeeping and security contractor “The Beast of Eschatonâ€. We won the battle, but there is still much to do before we win the war.... In light of its recent defeat and the news that our rebellion has acquired backing and new weapons from a group of fabulously wealthy and equally anonymous donors, the BoE has called in reinforcements from off-world to wipe us out. We’ve managed to hack their database and get some intel - it’s not much, but what we’ve seen isn’t pretty. These guys are good - real good. A straight-up spec-ops team, armed to the teeth and covered in kill-silhouettes. It’s kind of flattering, really, if you think about it... Anyway, it’s going to take tactics, preparation and a whole lot of nerve to pull this one off. Let’s take a closer look at what we know about the enemy, and how to deal with them. tl;dnr Artillery Ape: Prop-free skills training sessions, 2x/week Gatling Raptor: Prep 1+ build/week for Repubrick.com Phantom Mantis: Mindful Coffee 7 days/week. The S.W.A.R.M.: Complete all HabitRPG Dailies 7 days/week. Yeeeeaaah, this is how we roll. Let’s get versatile!

Ready player one Sup my fellow rebels, I'm back again for another challenge. (Sorry no themed challenge this time.) I burnt out on the last challenge, but that's not stopping me from coming back for another go. The hiccups were mainly from the real life kicking me in the pants. Dealing with college while living with your parents and then some can get pretty hectic. Heck, it's still kicking my butt as I type this. If you're looking to subscribe to a challenger that over uses gifs and talks about how her life is falling apart you've come to the right place! I'm taking summer classes, but forgot to confirm a payment plan, so they got dropped... after I had purchased the books. I spent the day afterward in the heat running all over campus with a readmittance for that needed the signature from the instructor, advisor, chair, dean of business, and the dean of undergrads. After all this work I go to fiscal services to find that they changed their policy and students have to pay out of pocket up front to re-enroll. And this is money I don't have. So I had to go to my bank and take a small loan and move around some investments to make things happen. Now I have to wait two to three business days for the money to transfer to my personal account so I can pay for courses that I am behind in. I also took an five week online course and I'm two weeks behind. While in this hectic game called life I'm gonna try and find some structure in my life before I start packing on any more pounds. Everything is better if it's a game, right? I feel like this is a game of don't starve, where no matter what you do... you. will. die. But at least you leave with a better understanding of the game and some experience points towards unlocking a new character with more unique survival skills. I keep falling, but at least I learnt from mistakes and can avoid them before running into the next unknown obstacle. For this challenge I'm going to take things a little slower and try and build on better habits. The only habit I've gotten out of these challenges is drinking more water. That's progress in my book. Eating (2 +CON) "You can't outrun your fork." That's a saying I always hear either from one of my health nut friends or a health article. I've got a pretty big sweet tooth, but I'd like to see that change by the end of this challenge. After dinner I've gotten in the habit of wandering into the pantry and grabbing a quick fix of sugar and carbs. This time round I'm making a zero tolerance policy on eating after dinner. My goal on MFP is to lose around 1.0 to 1.5lbs per week. That gives me around 1,500 calories to work with. log into MFP x7 per weeklog between 1,200-1,500 calories Exercise (+3 STA , +3 STR) I'm reaching for x6 per week for exercising. I know that sounds like a lot, but I don't like taking too many breaks from a routine. I'll be alternating between strength training, cardio, and yoga. I'm starting off with BBWW and once I get comfortable I'll change the level or the type of workout routine. Beginners Body Weight Workout x2Cardio (stationary bike, walking the dog, treadmill, etc.) x2yoga x2 Sleep (3+CON +1CHA) One of the key things that messed up all of my goals last challenge was my sleep schedule. I never go to bed on time and couldn't get up win the morning, let alone have enough energy to get everything done. I'm not worried about the numbers of hours I sleep, but rather the time I go to bed. I'm setting a time of no later than 11:30. The family is already in bed before then because of work and school. (But now that schools over my small sisters may stay up. They don't make too much noise, so all is good.) lights out at 11:30sleep 7-8 hrs Study (3+WIS) I'm taking summer classes as I've said before. I don't want to make a number of hours I need to study because I don't need to study for the same number of hours everyday. I get easily discouraged if I don't make my mark and this works as reverse motivation. Plus it's a five week class. And it's in speech. I only have to worry about reading the chapters, highlighting important sections, rereading the material, and working on my presentations. I'll be keeping up with the syllabus the best I can and post what I have to do that day followed by and edit of how I did. I just want to be accountable in this aspect. [Edit: I had troubles with financial aid so I can't finish the rest of my June course for this challenge] Words Are Power (+3WIS) Since I can't do communication college course work for a side quest, I'll do things a different way. I've been promising I'd teach myself two things eventually. To speak another language and to practice creative writing. I can use the time I put aside for studying to work on a daily writing prompt and to practice Spanish on duolingo. +30 min daily writing prompt+30 min Duolingo

Never has this graphic been more true to me. I’ve been all lost and turned around somewhere in that clusterfuck of squiggles. I’m sure the vast majority of people here, and in the world in general can relate to the frustrations of plateaus and setbacks. I’ve let them get me down for far too long, and have fallen back into the old habits of trying to crash diet to get back to my lowest weight so I can go from there. The results have been exactly as you would expect. I’ve gained 14 pounds in 4 months from my lowest weight. However frustrating it is, it’s a good reminder not to let myself slip back into old habits. So what if my shorts are fitting a bit tighter. So if I haven’t run a ten minute mile in months. So what I’m the only person in my Exercise Science club at school who can’t do a pushup or a proper box jump. I’ll get there. It’s not going to happen today. I am where I am now, and I’m not going to be able to snap my fingers and put myself back where I used to be. It’s going to take some time. It’s a journey, an adventure. Not a race. I’m a freaking superhero when I let myself be. My name is Jess. I'm 22, and I'm on a quest to lose 100 pounds and get strong, fast, agile and healthy. As of this morning, I am 22.5 pounds down from my highest weight. And for this challenge (and for the rest of my life), I want to focus on my health first and weight second. Goals Eat Paleo (+3 CON, +1 WIS) I have a problem with sugar. I’d actually call it an abusive relationship with carbs. When I’m stressed, I can’t be bothered to cook, and end up eating terribly most nights of the week. I don’t particularly want to delve into it, but these last few months have been stressful. Now that things are starting to take a small, but noticeable upturn, I need to get my diet back under control. I’m going to go back to eating paleo, specifically minimizing my grain and refined sugar intake. I'm applying the two in a row rule to this one. Never miss two good meals, never miss two workouts in a row. So... Don't miss two Paleo meals in a row to earn an A in this category. Bodyweight Training (+3 DEX, +2 STR) I’ve been doing group fitness at my school Monday-Thursday before my classes, (Zumba twice a week and Body Sculpting twice a week) and I’ve come to learn a few things about my body. My balance is embarrassingly abhorrent. My legs are a powerhouse. My triceps have been horribly neglected my entire life. My coordination actually isn’t as bad as I thought it was. I have no upper body strength. My cardio stamina is rather impressive given the approximate extra 50-70 pounds of body fat I’m carrying. My spirit is far stronger than my body. I did a Spartan Sprint in February and absolutely fell in love with obstacle course racing. I’ve decided that in 2016 I want to try for the trifecta, and to do that, I need to train and train consistently. So here is my Level 4 Training: 1 Sun Salutation 30 ft Bear Crawl 4-10 Pyramid Pushups 20 Kettlebell Swings 20 Russian Twists 10 Burpees MAX Plank MAX Pull-Up Hang Do this three times per week to earn an A in this category. Increase Flexibility (+2 STA, +1 CHA) One of the things I mentioned is that my core stability, balance and flexibility are all terrible. I am so bad about not stretching after working out, and I pay the price for it every single time. The morning after is always hell. I want to make it a good point to stretch after every workout, and do some deep meditative stretching before I go to sleep. Hopefully this will alleviate the problem. Take some time out of everyday, even if it's only 5 minutes, to stretch, practice basic yoga, or meditate to earn an A in this category. Spend some more time outside (+1 WIS +2 CHA) I like being outside. Actually, I love being outside. And somewhere between being stuck between school and work and the gym and the library, I forgot how much I love it. I sat out on the lawn under a tree to do my homework yesterday instead of sitting in the library and it put me in such a great mood. I don’t want to forget how therapeutic the clean air and sunshine is. It’s good for my soul to be outside. Spend a cumulative hour outdoors every day to earn an A in this category. Motivation- (Same list from my very first challenge. I'm crossing things off as I complete them, and adding new ones as I come up with them) I'm tired of being fat. I've been obese since childhood and it sucks. I really love doing sports and outdoor activities, but my weight makes it really friggin hard. I want to be strong, energetic and healthy and active.I no longer want to be the obese chick in the Exercise Science department at my school.I want to be able to do recreational sports Complete Aug 8, 2014I want to be able to shop at normal clothing stores, wear shirts without sleeves and dresses without tights. Complete September 29, 2014I want to buy a swimsuit for the first time since the 8th grade. Complete July 5, 2014I want to learn how to dance without running out of breath halfway through a song. Complete April 9, 2015I want to be strong enough to do a cartwheel. It's a little silly, but when I was a kid, I got made fun of for not being able to do one. I want to run an entire 5k without stopping, and run a marathon one day.Join the ranks of the Spartan Trifecta Warriors I’m really excited that I got to cross off ‘learning to dance’ off my checklist this month. I’ve been taking a zumba class twice a week since mid-January. I wanted to quit after the first class I was so embarrassed of how bad my dancing was. But I paid $84 for it and was too stubborn to not get my money’s worth, so I stuck with it. Now, three months later, I can make it through the entire one hour class with only the 15 second breaks between songs for a breather. I can’t believe how naturally it comes to me now in comparison to three months ago. I look forward to it, and want to look into taking another Zumba class over the summer at another establishment since they don’t offer it at the college. Wow this was a lot to type. I want to note too that this is my one year anniversary from my very first six week challenge. It seemed like a great day to respawn. Go get 'em rebels.

My time with the Druids refocused me. The biggest threat to my health last year was not weight or inactivity. I was wounded by the combination of depression, anxiety, and stress. During 2014, I learned resilience despite these wounds. Sleep, clean eating, movement, and simple habits formed new foundations. My journey, however, will be about more than my own health as I strive to love others well. Currently, I am an assassin apprentice. I cannot succeed if I rely solely on instinct, experience, and emotion. Far too often, my pride and stubbornness make me deaf to the wisdom around me, but I will learn to listen carefully. So, I don the black anew and vow to pursue my new quest to listen faithfully. Join me, rebels! Main Quest - Listen January will shift into a crazy work schedule (working 30 hours every fourth day, only 4 days off all month, etc). This is hopefully the last time that I will ever have to work like this. Given the extreme limits on my time and energy, this is a crucial time to strengthen the foundation I built last year. I am making self-care and rest a priority, so that I can begin to listen better to my body and those around me with more wisdom. I will meet these goals consistently and build my new lifestyle around them. This January, I will not succumb to drastic resolutions. After all, "let's not be hasty." 1) Sleep - I turn off screens and prepare for bed at 9pm - bed routine, read, dark room, >7 hours, good naps 2) Eat - I eat two meals per day mindfully and log everything I consume on NF - no screens, no work, no reading, sit down, give thanks, enjoy 3) Move - I move for at least five minutes daily - sun salutation, PT exercises, walk, dance, yoga, BWW Life quest - Listen - I am a woman who actively listens - prayer, silence, mindful conversation, self-reflection, instruction, Bible study Bonus quest - Self-care - I am somebody that cares for myself daily - Mindfulness, Affirmation, Creation, Studying, Decluttering NF keeps me focused in the midst of possible chaos, so I will reward myself for sticking to these goals and logging consistently! - $5 per core/life goal that I achieve and document at least 6 days per week - roll once per day that I complete and log at least 3 self care activities Roll Rewards 1) yoga block 2) zombies run 3) natural calm 4) iPad game 5) read 30 minutes 6) $5 in reward fund 7) new playlist 8) bubble bath 9) new tea 10) browse books Here we go!

I am jazzed to be starting my 4th challenge. I love being here with all of the support I get. On this go around I will once again attempt to quit smoking. I made a pretty good go of it on my last challenge and plan to continue this endeavor until I am a non smoker I found in my last attempt that I did not want to leave my house. This led to a huge lack of exercise and a feeling of depression. I gained about 10 pounds and I find myself seeking out people who smoke so I can bum one from them. I have not relapsed into full on smoking again but I am really battling this. What a head game it has been but I have a plan, and it is as follows Main quest: Quit smoking Quest 1: Get out of the house to avoid depression and constant eating. A - I purchased a 1 month gym membership and I must go Monday-Saturday. This membership is almost like having a personal trainer. The 6 am session is just my best friend and I. B - I will ride my bike to the gym as often as is possible. It is only 4 miles round trip so when time allows I will go for a longer ride after my workout. C - I will volunteer at the food bank Tues. Wed. and Thurs. Quest 2: Not eat everything within reach. A - I will have things to do with my hands. Such as floss my teeth and start a new craft project. B - Complete 1 item from my long TO DO list each day. C - Do deep breathing exercises when I feel that anxious feeling. Maybe walk outside to get the fresh air. Quest 3: Reward myself A - For each day I go with out a cigarette, I will give myself $3 in a "buy something cool fund"

Main Quest – Become Resilient People have accused me of becoming “consistent†over the last challenge. Sadly, this remains a struggle for me. Over the last few years, I’ve learned what works to keep me happy and healthy. Far too often, I wander astray because I “deserve some time off†or want to pursue some shiny new method or goal. Time to develop persistence and focus like Batman. Time to bounce back from setbacks even stronger and wiser. Time to become resilient. (BTW, grading = >90% - A 75-89% - B 50-74% - C <49% - F) 1) The Training is Nothing! The Will is Everything! The Will to Act! [+5 STA] Doucard is right. The will to act is how I will continue my daily training, including: - pray and read the Bible - prepare food - play outside (walk, BWW three times per week) - post on NF - pause (meditate) - plan for tomorrow This is the big goal for this challenge - consistent will to develop a healthy, happy Batperson. 2) Why do we fall? So we can learn to pick ourselves back up. [+3 DEX] Because sometimes falling is the only way forward, at least 3 times per week, I will develop the following skills… - chin/pull up negatives - bailing from handstands - parkour rolls 3) I synthesized an antidote. [+3 CON] I will counteract fear toxin (candy, junk food, baked stuff, work cafeteria “foodâ€, and other forms of emotional eating) with new antidotes. Some ideas (feel free to suggest more)… - drink tea - walk - listen to a song on my iPod - meditate - find a joke on the internet - animal pictures - read inspiring quotes - five deep breaths Side Quest – I am the Night! [+2 CHA] For the last 2/3rds of the challenge, I’m going to be working a super wonky schedule – 16 hour overnight shifts every other night. I have enough trouble shifting my schedule, but this looks to be playing sleep on expert difficulty. Here’s my plan to maximize the sleep that I can get, but expect adjustments - while on days sleep 9pm-6am - while on nights sleep – 9am-3pm - nap sometime between 1-4am or sleep later on non-working days - yellow glasses - magnesium? Life Quest – Build the Batcave [+2 WIS] My house and laptop are crammed to bursting with too much stuff. I will spend at least 15 minutes per day to declutter, organize, clean, or otherwise improve my physical and digital batcave.

Ahoy ye mateys! Omg he has a little hat! The names Rookie and I am finding myself back at the Adventurers door step I hope you will have me back! Last challenge I joined the Scouts to help me focus on my upcoming 5k Color Run (July 26). During that challenge I focused on doing my C25K, eating clean without counting calories and doing exercises/stretches to help with my horseback riding. During that challenge another challenge popped up between my future SIL, Mum and my friend... If I lose 55lbs by August 2015.. I get a free trip to Positano, Italy! So my focus is back on losing those pounds and getting a killer bod. Main Quest: Get to (and maintain) 190lbs by August 2015. Sub Quests: Do BWW twice a week (probably Thursdays and Saturdays) BBWW reference A: 2 workouts B: 1 workouts F: 0 workouts Journal my food daily (1 optional day a week) A: 6-7 days journalled B: 4-5 days journalled C: 2-3 days journalled D: 1 day journalled F: 0 days journalled ..... NOT SURE YET D: for my third one. -paranoid this thing will get deleted- Thinking something to help upper body strength. I suck at that but that could get covered in my BWW. Life Quest: Readddd more I miss reading and I have a lot of books. I would like to read some and then donate the ones I don't want to keep. Starting Stats: (I will update this closer to the challenge start date) Height: 5'10 Weight: 241.4 lbs Fat %: 41.1 Water %: 37.6 Muscle %: 34.1 Bone: 4.2lbs Motivation: To be more athletic for horseback riding I'm a bridesmaid at my brothers wedding August 2015 Positano Weightloss Challenge August 2015 (if I get down to 190lbs by then.. .FREE TRIP) Rookie my puppup He has too much energy. I really need to invent something to siphon it from him. Yup. Dat face!

Hellooooooo.... Well, for those of you that perchance glanced at my last challenge they will notice that I went from Shanghai > London > Canada. So now I'm in Canada and by the end of this challenge I will go back to Shanghai (yay summer holidays!!!). My last challenge focused on being centered, happy and as non-stressed out and healthy as possible during those weeks. It went fairly well for the first part of it, but by the time I got back to Canada I had an epic, epic burnout and spent about a week being a piece of exhausted flesh. That part is mostly OK now, but what I would like to gear up for is going back to Shanghai. And the thought of that makes me want to grab the kid and hide in the woods. 1. I don't want to go back to Shanghai. 2. I don't want to go back to Shanghai. 3. Seriously? We were not supposed to be in Shanghai this long. I've been away from Canada for almost 12 years now, that part is fine. But I was NOT supposed to get stuck in one place this long. A few years ago we were supposed to go to Brazil, then it was India, then it was Vietnam. Now...meh. Shanghai for another few years. OK, the positive parts are I have a fairly good job (which was very, very frustrating last year but they've PROMISED me certain changes this year which should make it better), I have a fantastic place to live, great friends there, a good support network and a serious quantity of vacation time throughout the year. Things could absolutely be worse. Also, right now I'm going to an AMAZING gym that is kicking my ass in all sorts of awesome ways and I'm totally loving. Air is clean, kid is happy, food is good, I get to see my family and it's a good, long visit. The goal: Go back to Shanghai happy to go, knowing that I've set things up for myself so that it will be a good school year. I'll have enough support, the kid will be getting everything he needs to keep thriving, and we have plans for some awesome holidays. Mini-goals: 1 tiny goal per week Week 1: Work out 4 times (I'll be away from gym at my mom's place, so this is a little tricky), hand in papers (finishing up my masters credits) two days early Week 2: Shop for food, don't buy any unnecessary crap. Week 3: Have fun with b/f while he's in town! Poutine only twice. Go out on at least two dates sans kid. Week 4: Keep working out! Week 5: Remain sane while packing, travelling on a plane with a toddler on lap. Meditate at least 10 min per day. Week 6: Do not sink into depressed coma when returning to Shanghai, see friends, enjoy life, sign up for gym. Daily Goals: Keep refrigerator free from gross food Do not go to bed with dishes in sink Buy one of those swiffers (f you environment!) for the kitchen floor. I have the reusable pads in Shanghai, but not here Keep bathroom clean Meditate daily using Omvana app if nothing else Big Goals: Retail Therapy: Only purchase the following (these are MAXIMUM numbers, I don't shop in Shanghai, it's all over priced crap and I'm really trying to reduce my shopping foodprint). It's soo easy to overshop when I'm here, but I want to buy fewer clothes overall, but more that are better quality that will last more than a season without turning to dust/unwearable professionally. So I really save my yearly clothing budget for when I'm here, and overall I feel like I shop a lot less. Also, I am personally trying to boycott any shop that does not meet minimum safety requirements in their manufacturing, which sadly cuts out quite a few (say good bye to H&M, Gap, Old Navy). -good quality shirts for work X4 -good quality skirts for work X2 -sandals for work, flats for work -tshirts X4 (literally I have zero right now, I just threw out my last one) -a good school bag -a few new workout tops Talk to the man: Make a specific list of what needs doing week to week and work out a schedule with b/f on how to do it. This year I was 'housewife of the year' despite working a full time job. This is not cool. Date night. It's happening. I mean, with my b/f. This is more a him thing than me thing, but for our relationship it needs to be a 'we' thing or there isn't going to be much left. Kid: OMG we have so much fun together, and I really hate going back to work but I know it's sooo necessary for both of us. So, we're going to keep doing Music Together, and I would like to find him at least one more weekly thing we can do together. I think soon he can start to help out more with food choices and planning, but he's just a toddler! Me! All me!!! Keep working out! I have a lot of resources I can use (I bought some very cool DVD sets before I came away for the summer I haven't touched, really), I want to keep on working out like I'm doing here (more weights than I've ever used before), get in some yoga where I can, and maybe even back to Muay Thai a little. I have even suggested we go to Muay Thai on date night since that's where we met to begin with. Make a gratitude board for our apartment in Shanghai. I'm not at all crafty, but I'm pretty sure I can handle this. I think it involves glue and some cardboard. No grading, I just do it or I don't. I could make a rubric and see where my 'areas of opportunity' are, but I don't know if that would help. I'll think about it. Dang, I need to get this paper finished, all I can think of is rubric and learning challenges. Tomorrow is very soon, I think I'm ready. The picture is my dad, lifting my kid.

(TL;DR in second post) Previously on Apfelstrudi’s journey: I set out to become the very best. Like no one ever was. I got 4 pokémon from Professor Oak, kicked Gary in the nuts, and set out to defeat Brock. On my way, I encountered lots of trainers and wild pokemon that challenged me every 5 steps. And they helped me level up so I could win the boss battle. But what’s even better: They showed me what I’m passionate about, and made my path forwards much, much clearer. Once Brock had been defeated, I continued wandering, once again being challenged, but now I had a deathly weapon with me, even deathlier than my pokemon: My hoop. It worked better than repel, better than strength and cut together. It made my way easier and much more entertaining, and showed me what to focus on. But now I face a new battle, and I must use what I’ve learned, and become a better trainer and hooper, in order to defeat Misty and not become Misty-fied. Let’s start this off by looking at the dictionary: In other words: Misty is a minx. Now that I know what to focus on, Misty the little punk will certainly try to lead me astray. And she’ll have an easy job, too! Not only does she have boobs, she also has junior trainers in speedos surrounding her! How is that fair? I must focus on happiness, but not the kind of happiness that speedos bring. Instead, I’ll concentrate on something that brings me even more happiness: My hula hoops. As I said in the recap - I want to be the very best. And now I’ve finally found something that I feel like I can progress steadily, with lots of effort, but not effort that leaves me frustrated and demotivated. To be the very best hooper, there are many things I must work on. Main Goal: Become the very best! - Defeat Misty Battle 1: Horsea HP Horsea: 50 HP Pikachu: 50 Defeating Horsea will be relatively simple. Hoop it up! 5 times a week. Can be anything from 5 minute waist-hooping to skill-work to hoop-workouts to stretches. But the hoop must be used. Every time I hoop, I’ll take 1 HP off Horsea. Working on a new skill every week gives me an added bonus of 5 HP off. If I don’t work on a skill, those 5 HP will be taken away from my Pikachu. If I don’t defeat Horsea within 5 weeks (to allow for fail), I can either use the 6th week normally, or go into boss battle mode. (stop being cute, you're gonna die D: ) Battle 2: Shellder HP Shellder: 50 HP Charmander: 50 In order to defeat Shellder, my weakest Pokémon must come forth. Fire against water usually doesn’t end well for fire, but I can’t let that happen to my poor Charmander. On my way to become the very best, I must do things that aren’t directly related to hooping, but that offer assistance. This can be anything. I must do 5 of those things a week. Each workout (using the term loosely) will take 1 HP off Shellder. An additional HP can be taken off for reflecting and naming how I’m helping my hooping by doing said workout. Example: Chest/shoulder openers - help prepare chest/shoulder hooping. If I don’t manage to defeat in the first 5 weeks, I can use the sixth or go into boss battle mode. Battle 3: Goldeen HP Goldeen: 50 HP Squirtle: 50 Pikachu needs to adhere to a schedule in order to defeat Goldeen! Because the only way to get past her is to dance. But not just any dance! A different dance must be tried every week. This includes listening to fitting music, watching videos of pros dancing, and doing a tutorial. All this tied together will take 10 HP off Goldeen. If I do more than one tutorial, or do some freestyle dance in the “style of the weekâ€, it counts towards Charmander’s battle against Shellder. If I don’t manage to defeat in the first 5 weeks, I can use the sixth or go into boss battle mode. Dance styles: (don't want that happening!) Battle 4: Staryu (diet quest) HP Staryu: 50 HP Bulbasaur: 50 Bulbasaur likes his food - and he’s gotten quite chubby lately. So he must plan his meals better, in order to stay away from evil foods. One meal plan a week = 10 HP off Staryu. If I stray from the meal plan, that’s 1 HP off Bulbasaur per day that had wrong food. If I don’t manage to defeat in the first 5 weeks, I can use the sixth or go into boss battle mode. Battle 5: Starmie (life quest) HP Starmie: 50 HP Magikarp: 50 That’s right. I’ve caught myself the lamest pokemon ever. But in this case, it’ll be worth it. Because I’ll fight those boobs and speedos with my own boobs and speedos - kinda! In order to feel better about dancing, hooping in front of the camera, and general movement, I must feel better about the way I look. They’re trying to divert me with their beauty? I’ll find a way to use mine. I recently (at the end of last challenge) started a new skin care regime. My skin has never been exactly great, but it's starting to annoy me like crazy. So when I read this article about Asian actresses and their masterful skin care, I decided to just give it a try, even though I haaaate spending lots of time in the bathroom. Ah well - if done properly it's like 5 more minutes a day. What I'm doing shall be in the third post to counter information-overload. I want to stick with it a minimum of 5 days a week. Each day gives me 1 HP off Starmie. Additionally, every week, I have to do something that makes me feel pretty. It doesn’t matter what it is, but can’t be something as simple as ‘take a shower’, obviously. For every project, I take 5 HP off Starmie. If I don’t manage to defeat in the first 5 weeks, I can use the sixth or go into boss battle mode. Week 6 / Boss Battle / Evolving I’ve specifically assigned points so that I can have a successful challenge even if I don’t do every single workout, every single day and week. If all goes perfectly, I can defeat pokémon in 5 weeks. If not, I can continue normally in week 6. OR I can do a boss battle. A boss battle will be done in case I’ve failed miserably and need more points than I can possibly gain through normal battle. I will only determine what a boss battle is if necessary though. If by the end of week 6, I’ve not defeated a pokémon, I can use up the remaining HP of my pokémon. Example: End of challenge stats Battle 1: HP Horsea: 10 HP Squirtle: 40 -> Horsea: 0; Squirtle: 30 If I manage to keep my pokémon’s HP at 25 or above, they will evolve. Which would be particularly important for Magikarp, obviously.

Apfelstrudi needs YOUR help That’s right. I’m talking about you, right in front of your screen. Why do I, the mighty fruity overlord, need your help? Because I want to be the very best. Like no one ever was. Just like Ash, I want it all. And that’s a real problem for me, challenge-wise. Experience has shown me that I get bored easily. I do a workout, do it again, do it a third time and by that time, I just want to run into a wall. This causes problems with my motivation. It makes me think “Ugh, I just did that yesterday, I’m not gonna repeat the same freakin’ things AGAIN today.†Which isn’t cool. And this is where you guys come in. You’ve been great help with keeping me on track and smacking sense into me, like any true motivator and friend should. But this time, I want more of your help. Not only do I want your slaps, your gifs, your advice, I want your challenge. “What, you want to copy my challenge? Screw you, I worked on that for ages until it was perfect!†I’d never dream of doing that! I literally want you to challenge me. On my way from Professor Oak’s office to the gym in Pewter City, I’m going to meet lots of wild pokemon and other trainers. And thiiiis is where you come in. It’s totally up to you whether you want to be a trainer or a pokemon. Really - I won’t judge you. But if I want to win that Boulder Badge, I’ll need all the training I can get. Here’s the twist. I’m pretty awesome. So awesome, in fact, that Professor Oak disowned Gary and gave me all three starter pokemon. Because screw Gary. Not only that, he also gave me the wild Pikachu that attacked me in the tall grass. Now, I need to get trained using those four pokemon. I made a spreadsheet to keep track of all the challenges, so please challenge me right here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0An5J_3FduWDkdFlqT2RQaU1NcU5kcVBXLW9sV2d1UkE&usp=sharing Charmander I want my body to burn. Every single part of it. (Unless you’re thinking of STDs, I’d rather skip THAT challenge) This means strength training. Charmander will be really useless if he doesn’t level up before reaching the gym, so I need to find wild pokemon or trainers to challenge my strength in order to have a shot at the Boulder Badge. What this means for my challengers: In the Charmander column, pick a spot and leave your name and a challenge. This can be: - A challenge of reps; for example 100 push ups in one day (if you really want to kill me) - A certain workout I must complete; can be videos, links to a written-out version of a workout, a workout you’ve thought up, really anything! - Other types of bodyweight workout; for example 30 minutes of dancing or going to the climbing gym (climbing gym can only happen once though because I don’t have the funds to go there on a regular basis) It should be focused on bodyweight, but there are a few props I have that can be used: - swiss ball - 1lbs dumbbells - ab trimmer - 1.5kg bottles - hoop for hula-hooping - things you can find in a normal household Squirtle Squirtle is pretty epic when it comes to moving. Especially once you can teach him to swim while you ride on his back. That’s why I’ll focus on Squirtle’s strength here and train distances with him. The way we move doesn’t matter - it can be walking, running, biking and swimming.. What this means for my challengers: In the Squirtle column, pick a spot and leave your name and a challenge. This can be: - certain distances in one day or one setting - certain times of doing something; for example 30 minutes of biking - certain ways to do something; can be totally silly, for example sneaking/walking on tiptoes, crawling, skipping, barefoot, running on the spot Again, because my lack of funds, swimming can happen once a week MAX, and because it’s really cold and dark outside, running outside can only happen once a week (so 6 times max) Bulbasaur Bulbasaur is made of food. He’s like the vegetarian version of killing animals to eat them. (I know, I should be a poet or something). So in order to get Bulbasaur ready to face whatever Brock throws my way, I need trainers to try and eat him. Wait what? Let me rephrase. I need trainers and wild pokemon to challenge my culinary skills. That’s better. They should be paleo. What this means for my challengers: In the Bulbasaur column, pick a spot and leave your name and a challenge. This can be: - making things from scratch; for example bone broth, natural glutamate, spices, sauces - cooking certain dishes - paleo-fying certain dishes/coming up with a paleo version of something; for example pizza, tacos Pikachu Pikachu needs to be charged properly before I can defeat Brock with him. This doesn’t mean I want you to challenge me to hold my naked butt against one of those electric fences. Nooope. It means anything and everything that charges me up, emotionally, physically and in any other way you can imagine. What this means for my challengers: In the Pikachu column, pick a spot and leave your name and a challenge. This can be: - something that makes me feel good - something that makes the people around me feel good; for example writing a love letter, paying a compliment - meditation - crazy-dances - quality time spent with family or friends or significant other - other crazy ideas that will be fun or calming or energizing or etc. etc. - things around the house (cleaning, dishes, laundry - everything that will leave me with a feeling of having accomplished something good and an environment that I’m content in) - yoga, stretching, etc. Since these challenges can be very small or very big, I’m not setting a limit here. 21 is minimum challenges done but can be more! TL;DR I want you to challenge me! Post a certain workout, certain rep number, distance, time, meal or dare according to the different pokemon (Charmander = BWW, Squirtle = moving, Bulbasaur = Food, Pikachu = life challenges) on my spreadsheet and I’ll challenge you somewhere along the challenge way! You can post more than one challenge, and bonus points for hilarious challenges. You don’t have to do the challenge, but I sure do! For easier spreadsheet-usage, I’ve made the boyfriend think up a challenge for me for each pokemon. I’m also planning to add an epic battle of epicness against him (after all, this is still part of our battle to get all abs-y till summer) and am SO up for your suggestions! The exercises that you’ll put on the spreadsheet will not be used in the order they appear on there. I’ll randomly choose a trainer/wild pokemon/exercise and not go by number, so you won’t have to pick a certain one but can simply put it down there without worrying! If you can’t think of anything but want to challenge me, you can exchange your name for one of Gary’s challenges. Thank youuuu!

I'm BACK!!! ^.^ I barely completed my last challenge, back in last July, and decided it was best to take a step back for a while. Even though I completed a challenge, nothing stuck. I gave up walking and trying to eat better. Everything. But I never stopped visiting so I figured it was time to give this another shot. Main Quest · Lose weight and get healthy. To feel happy with myself again. Goal 1: Food Tracking! (+3 WIS) Track what I eat each day. I know the things I need to change (breakfast!!). So I'm hoping by tracking each day, I'll help myself get away from the normal, carb-filled breakfasts of bagels and muffins. Goal 2: Eat more Veggies! (+4 CON) (+2 CON) This is a two part goal that I'm hoping to accomplish. Part one is adding more salads to my life. I love salad and it's an easy way to get more vegetables in.! I tend to get lazy nights/days and just make dinner and don't add a salad to my meal. Let's change this! I'm aiming to have 5 salads a week.(2 points for this part) I'm cutting the salad part out of this. I'll probably still eat them but it's not going to be a focused goal. It sounds stupid to me now. Not sure if I'll add anything in with this. Part two is cook with a new vegetable each week. Part of the problem I get with cooking is that I get tired of cooking with the same things. So this should help prevent that! I'll track what vegetables I try and if I like them or not. Will also add notes of trying it different ways to maybe make it better. (2 points for this part) Goal 3: Exercise! (+1 STR & +2 STA) I failed here last time. I made too many excuses. I'm still making excuses. BUT now, with this written out, I can be held accountable! Add movement to my day. (I have a desk job so I sit for long periods of time and it's frustrating. I end up with sore muscles most days. Sore, from sitting! Ugh...) The goal is to walk everyday at work. If not at work, I can take the puppy out when I get home. I also want to add in a body workout routine. This can should be done once or twice a week. Life Quest: Be an active forum member. (+5 CHA) (+3 CHA) This is to help me be a better communicator. I tend to stalk fellow rebels without leaving comments and supporting them. I can't want support without giving it. (Need to figure out how to grade this still.) I could use some help on the attribute points, I think this is set up decently enough. ^.^ If not, let me know. I lowered some of my attribute points. I believe I went too high with 2 of them.

Time for challenge #4! I'm back with the assassins because I need to focus more on workouts and not just running, and because I'm battling the boyfriend. We made a pact yesterday that by summer, we'd get rid of all belly-wobble. He's thin and strong and got a bit of a beer gut, I'm just wobbly and weak all over so this should be fun to see who's better faster stronger. I also want to mix some of my old goals in here - mostly the crockpot cooking (now that I've got a real crockpot!), cleaning and moving towards Mordor. So, here goes! Fitness Goals Goal 1: Keep moving. It's cold outside and I hate it. It's seriously holding me back from running, walking and all the other things you'd do outside. But no! Can't let that happen. I want to walk at least 10k a week. Which would make 60k during the whole challenge. This time I'm counting every step I take. For that, I'll need a step counter. But I don't want to buy one. Instead, I'll go with the 'The Walk' app - newest from the zombies run creators. That way I don't have to think of another gadget to carry with me, I won't need any silly things on my belt and I have my phone with me everyday anyways. Plus I've always wanted to be a secret agent. [+1 DEX, +1 STA] Goal 2: Time to use the body! I don't have a gym membership anymore, so all I've got to help me is my body. Which is more than enough because I can't even do a push-up! 3 times a week I'll do some form of bodyweight workout. This can be anything from 5 minute HIIT to hours of light bodyweight workout. This can also be fun activities like climbing gym that are definitely a workout but I can't do on a regular basis. [+3 STR, +1 CON] Goal 3: The almighty stretch. Especially with the boyfriend having such horrible back pains and my back pains returning, I need to focus more on stretching.Because it really helped me when I tried it and I need to get back into the habit of doing it in the evening in front of the TV. It's not much of a hassle, I can do it just fine instead of sitting on the couch and it does me good. I neglected that during boyfriend's hospital visit and now I need to get this going again. Same as bodyweight workout here - 3 times a week at least! [+2 DEX, +2 CON] Diet Goal Keep crockpotting! One crockpot-meal a week, this was great last challenge and need to keep it going and get used to my 'real' crockpot now! [+1 CON, +2 CHA] Life Goal Unfuck your habitat. Do the routine every evening. I did great with that whole cleaning thing until everything went wonky in my life. But I managed to keep everything the way it was basically - cabinets and fridge etc. Just need to get back to my bit of cleaning every night and things should be fine. So there we go! [+2 WIS]

This challenge in some ways follows on from my previous ones but also has a couple of tiny changes. Once again I'm basing my workouts around the progressions in Convict Conditioning- they worked for me so far so I don't feel the need to mess with the formula. I'm also carrying on with the daily handstand practice although I have to admit that I've missed a lot of days between the end of the last challenge and this one but not anymore. I'm also adding in a few more daily tasks as I've found that practicing skills daily really works wonders. Enough rambling, here are my goals: GOAL ONE: Work out 6 days per week. Last challenge I tried doing three full body workouts per week but it didn't pan out too good. The on one day, off one day thing really didn't help with building up a steady routine and several days were either skipped or postponed until later in the week. Also, a full body workout takes quite a bit of time and I had to get up too early in the mornings to fit it all in before work. In these cold winter months, it's tough getting up at 5:30 when you know that you could stay in bed for another half an hour and not work out but still get to work on time. So, I'm now trying the CC Veterano programme- six days straight but each day focussing on 2-3 sets of only one exercise. A pretty intense warm up followed by very specific exercises can be done in less than half an hour if I push myself hard (which I really plan to do) so I have big hopes that I'll find it easier to stick with this programme than the last one. STR +2, STA + 2 GOAL TWO: Daily handstand and crow stand practice. I had pretty good success with the handstands on the last challenge until I over did it it pulled my shoulder so I'm going to carry on with them again but with the addition of working towards a 15 second crow stand too. One of my goals for the year is to learn to do handstand presses and being able to do 15 second freestanding handstands and 15 second crow stands are pre-requisites for having the strength to do them so this goal is primarily working towards that larger goal. DEX +4 (+2 per stand) GOAL THREE: Six weeks of healthy living. Another goal for the year is to reduce my % body fat down to 15 or lower. I'm currently hovering around 18-20% so I'm really going to be focussing on shedding the fat and adding lean muscle mainly through good diet. Following on from the usual holiday orgy of bad eating and drinking this goal is all about cutting out the alcohol, unnecessary sugars and general rubbish from my eating. So, no booze, no liquids apart from water or green tea, no chocolates and other sweet treats. CON + 3 GOAL FOUR: More Haikus! I really enjoyed writing them last time and over the Xmas period I unpacked the last of my books from when I moved house back in July and I found my copy of 'The Haiku Handbook' a guide to writing and reading haikus. My goal is to read the book cover to cover and to try to write at least 3 good haikus per week bug hopefully more. It's a bit of fun really but it feels great to exercise my creative mind. WIS +3, CHA +1. In the past I've tended to record my workouts on my battle log but from now on I want to be more a accountable so I'm going to post them on here instead and try to record more details of what I'm actually doing. I've started a new paper workout journal for this year so I'm already being a lot more thorough in my records so I've got them for reference so I see no reason not to bore everyone on my challenge thread too! Challenge on!

Welcome! My name is Alex. I'm a 25 year old test engineer. I live in the desert of AZ and love it. I'm here at NF to get motivated, stay motivated, and motivate other people. This place is very special and unique, and I can't believe I just found it. This place rocks and has really pushed me to keep going. This is me: I started taking charge of my health on July 2012, but I don't take many photos (not because of my weight, just don't) so I didn't have something to compare to when I actually started, but I was fairly steady for many years. I'm now at around 215 lbs. My motivation is my wife and newborn son. I want to look the best for my wife. And I want to live a long time and set a strong example of a man for my son. They are everything to me, and I feel I should be the best for them. And being nice and hardworking isn't enough. Plus if I'm dead, I can't do anything. Second plus, it doesn't hurt to be dead sexy, see what I did there GOALS 1). Nutrition (STR +1, CON +2, STA +1) This is the most important thing. I eat Primal 90% of the time. Why? Because it works. I care not of the mumbo jumbo about cavemen, I care about results. So far I've felt the best eating no grains and minimal cheese. My energy is better, my digestive health is better, and I don't worry too much about calories because I don't eat enough as it is. This last thing needs to change. After speaking with Donar on his thread. I will need to find my maintenance and work from there. I'm going to shoot for a 40/40/20 PRO/CHO/FAT split to do this. More details to follow. This will be a 3 week assessment and then a change towards a deficit. Thanksgiving Weekend will not count towards this challenge. Ok, this is changing a bit. Right now, there is no way in hell I could succeed at this. The baby is takes up too much of my wifes time for her to plan out and prepare meals and she's the big reason for my success. I don't mind helping with this at all, but with my always changing schedule it's hard to plan and prepare every day. Instead I will focus on eating what I normally eat (since I'm losing weight) and track everything as best as possible. This will give me something to make better decisions with for a stricter diet. Sorry Donar! I do plan to meet a calorie goal and macros for the next challenge. The boy will be older giving mom more time to do meal prep while I work. I will hopefully start a real lift program to accompany that diet. God I miss the barbell. Grading: Track food intake except for 3 days = A Track food intake except for 6 days = B Track food intake except for 9 days = C Track food intake except for 12 days = D Track food intake except for 15 days = F 2). BBWW (STR +3, STA +2, Bonus: STR +1) I don't have time to start a real lifting program with the newborn. I really want to do Starting Strength since I love lifting weight but I can't swing that now. If I can't commit I won't do it. I will explore it some during this challenge to see if the gym nearby can work for me. So instead I will do a BBWW workout and modify as I get better at it. Right now the weak spot is push ups. I will likely add to it as well. I am starting at least two sets, MWF. I will list the work out for each day. Grading: 18 WO = A 15 WO = B 12 WO = C 9 WO = D 7 WO = F A point will be shifted from Nutrition to BBWW if I can complete full sets of push ups. If not the point will remain with the Nutrition category. 3). Running (STA +2, DEX +2, BONUS: STA +1) I have my first 5k race on Dec 8th. It is the Hot Chocolate Run in Phoenix. Supposed to be fun. During the last challenge I completed my C25K program, and the baby was born right before I was going to do a full 5k run. I have since completed one at a 11:30 pace (slower than I was running before baby boy arrived). This goal is about continuing running to keep conditioning and get faster. How will I do this? At least one long run (5k) and one "other" run. This last run will likely be some interval training to increase speed. Or a shorter run (2 miles) while trying to run faster. I will confer with the running folks if this is acceptable way to pick up my pace. Your thoughts? Grading: 12 Runs = A 10 Runs = B 8 Runs = C 6 Runs = D 4 Runs = F A point will be shifted from the life goal into the running goal if I can improve my 5k pace to under 10:30 min/mile. Otherwise it will stay in the life goal. LIFE GOAL). Ace the Class! (WIS +1, CON +1) This is a continuation of my previous challenge. I need to boost my GPA in my Master's Program. I have a 2.7 GPA (stupid B-) and my other transfer credit classes don't count towards it. So I need at least a B+ to continue in the program. After that I'm still on thin ice. Currently have a 83% in the class. I was hoping to boost it in the midterm but I got an 84%. It really sucks that despite being above average I'm still failing. This week (Nov 4th) is a bonus week and will be a try out period. WO don't count, but they will proof out the concept and see if something isn't working. Feel free to comment, suggest and ask any questions!