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There has been an awakening... OK, so the goals have changed a bit, but that was still fun to make This year, I'm taking on my biggest challenge since joining the Rebellion....becoming a Jedi Knight. To do this, I'll need to complete the 5 Trials of Knighthood. Trial of Skill The Trial of Skill is a chance for the Jedi to prove that he has mastered a particular skill or set of skills. Typically this would be some form of lighstaber combat, though other areas were allowed as well. For my skill trial, I've decided to strive for a one-handed handstand: For this challenge, I'm going to start off easy, with by spending at least 15 minutes per day working towards handstands. Over the next 12 months, I'll progress through wall-facing handstands, reverse handstands, free-standing handstands, etc. I might supplement this with some weighted running, once I can figure out how much Yoda weighed Courage The Trial of Courage tests the Jedi's courage (surprise surprise). It's all about conquering fear and performing bravely. I've had a hard time thinking up a long-term goal with this one. Basically, I haven't got a lot of fears really, though I'm sure once I've self-reflected for a while, I'll come up with a few good ones. I'm going to come back to this at a later date, but for this challenge, I'm going to take on one of the classics: public speaking. I've got to train a couple dozen users at work in a few weeks, and it's been a while since I've addressed a group of people...I'll be using this part of the challenge to make sure I'm prepared and do a good job. Flesh The trial of the Flesh is all about sacrificing to improve oneself. This year, I'm going to be moving my diet to a 100% home-made one, with no more store-bought meals. I'll still allow myself the odd dinner out, etc, but this trial is all about reducing consumption of convenience foods at home. This challenge, I'm going to tart with the big one: soft drinks. I'm a fiend for soft drinks, and I've been drinking way too much coke over the holidays. So, from the 4th, there will be no more soft drinks in me. Spirit During the Spirit Trial, a Jedi is forced to reflect on his true nature, and see his flaws like never before. I'm going to use this trial to tackle one aspect of my personality that has been worrying me: Anger. Having kids can be an exercise in frustration and stress, especially over the holidays. I've been guilty of the odd shouting session, and hate myself for it every time. I'm going to use this year to develop strategies for coping with the stress of being a dad, and find more ways to have a more positive parenting experience. This challenge I'm going to set aside 15 minutes per day for quiet time. Experience has shown that having a calm mind makes stress much more manageable. This is what I will be aiming for. Insight The Trial of Insight is all about learning real-world skills to allow a Jedi to understand and fit in with the non-Jedi world. It can take nearly any form, but for me, I've decided to learn a language. My goal this year is to be able to either have a conversation, read a book, or watch a movie, entirely in....Swedish. Yep Swedish. Don't ask me why, as I don't really know myself, other than I love Nordic Noir and have been watching a lot of Swedish programs these holidays. For this challenge, I'm aiming to develop a vocabulary of at least 200 words. I'll be doing this via a combination of Pimsleur Swedish, a couple apps, flashcards, TV watching, and Duolinguo. I'm targeting the most used 200 words as best I can. So those are the Trials I'll be working on. It's a fair body of work, but I think it's achievable if broken down into chunks. At the end of the year, provided I have completed my goals, I'll give myself the title of Jedi Knight here on the forums, and will build myself a lightsaber!

The last challenge I started over. I decided to take the first steps down the dark and scary path toward being fit. I aim to continue that journey this challenge and hopefully pick up the pace a bit. I have been fairly successful at keeping my arch nemesis the peanut butter ninja at bay but he still creeps past my defenses every once in a while and strikes. This challenge I am going to focus on keeping my calories in check, beating the peanut butter ninja, and getting to the gym while following my selected lifting program. Current Stats: Sex: Male Age: 35 Height: 5’10†Weight: 247.2 lbs. Stomach: ??" Chest: ??" Neck: ??" Bicep: ??" Main Quest: Get below 20% body fat this year. I currently stand at about 32% body fat. This is not healthy for me at all. I am hoping that at the end of the year I can be about 50 lbs. lighter but the weight is only an indicator of my progress. If I end up at 20% body fat and am nowhere near 200 lbs. I will be fine with it. Once I hit 20% I will set my next goal to drop additional body fat. Challenge Goal 1: Count my calories as accurately as possible. My goal is to average 1,800 calories (or less) per day for the entire challenge. Calories will be tracked on My Fitness Pal. Graded weekly, the final grade will be an average of the weekly grades A = 1800 Calories per day B = 1900 Calories per day C = 1950 Calories per day D = 2000 Calories per day E = More than 2100 Calories per day Challenge Goal 2: Defeat the peanut butter ninja. I have a very bad habit of ruining my daily calorie count by eating peanut butter. Peanut butter by itself isn’t a terrible thing unless you eat 1,000 calories of it at a time (like I do). I tend to grab the jar and a spoon when I get the urge. This challenge I am removing peanut butter from my eating habits all together. No peanut butter at all during the entire challenge. Graded weekly, the final grade will be based on the total number of days I went without peanut butter. A = 95% of the days B = 90% of the days C = 85% of the days D = 80% of the days F = less than 80 % of the days Challenge Goal 3: Continue going to the gym and lifting. I am on the final week of my current program and my lifting partner and I will be selecting a new program this week. It will likely be a 4 to 6 week lifting program. My goal is to be in the gym every morning I am scheduled to be there. Grading will be done weekly to evaluate where I am at but the final grade will be based on the number of days I make it to the gym throughout the challenge. A = 95% of the days B = 90% of the days C = 85% of the days D = 80% of the days F = less than 80 % of the days

Good evening guys, I'm BioGuyJos and this is a very quick draft of how my story here starts... I always wanted to feel faster and lighter with my body, I used to weight around 120 kilograms way back in 2011. I managed to exercise myself starting from summer vacation time in 2011 up to summer vacation time in 2012. I lost around 50 kilograms, weighting 70 kilograms before summer in 2012. In that time I was a high schooler, I felt better with myself and people started to treat me in a different way. It was pretty awesome. I got graduated and I started college. I did not exercise as much as I did in 2011. I gained weight again, now I do weight 88 kilograms. I went to the gym various time in the past, I did lost some mass but I felt somewhat incomplete. Now that I found this community and read about the kind of classes here encountered I felt like being a Scout could bring this "completeness" feeling of mine. My objectives are, in a BROAD sense, to improve my endurance and my stamina with running. A more specific goal is to participate in a 1/2 marathon nearby my town in August, it is about 23 kilometers. Last week I jogged 1 mile with some friends, I felt good and also tired after it. I am here to ask for your experience and also to join in this class. I do not know if here is possible but I am using a template from level ones challenges... LEVEL 1 SCOUT CHALLENGE: Diet Eat a vegetable with one meal every day Reduce fast food consumption by 50% Fitness (pick one) Commit with running the running every day. Level Up Your Life 5 minutes meditation daily. Say one positive thing to yourself each morning when you look in the mirror. My exercise schedule will be something like in the link attached. (OBTAINED FROM THIS PAGE, http://running.competitor.com/2014/03/training/running-101-how-to-start-a-running-program_7648) THANKS FOR READING!

Better late than never. I missed week 1, but hopefully I can still meet these goals by the end. A little bit about me, Jeff, before I dive into my Level Up character. I am 26, just out of law school and a recent new-resident of Manhattan. Fan of Star Wars, comics (Marvel+Batman), TMNT, video games, and all things nerdy. Also big NBA and NFL fanatic. I work long hours at a firm here in the city, but try to find time (usually in the mornings) to stay active and mentally sane. My wife and I food prep every week to save money and eat healthy. We are both running the SPARTAN TRIFECTA this year in honor and memory of a friend that passed away suddenly last year (more info on this if you want it). Other than that fitness goal, I want to take more time to myself, recommit to drawing and sketching, and also pay off the debt that comes along with higher education. So here are my goals for this challenge: Strength: 50 consecutive Burpees Headspace: Meditate 15 days Thriftiness: Pay off $2,000 credit card debt Creativity: 15 Sketches And here is my character description I wrote up for Level Up My Life (I am trying to work this philosophy and creative writing approach into a journaling technique, but haven't started that project yet): Level 1: Jeff was just a humble kid growing up on a tiny forest world. He flew off to Tempe to study at the Sun Devil temple before finding adventure on the swamp planet of Nola. He achieved small levels of success, but also faced terrible failures. Eventually, he regained his strength and courage, moved to the city-covered planet of Manhattan, and began his life as an ordinary lawyer in an ordinary interplanetary law firm. Like other young heroes, ours struggled with the feeling that he was meant for more than the life he had been given. He was impatient and spent his days searching for instant gratification and only finding disappointment. However, just as the prophecies had predicted, Jeff soon stumbled across the long-forgotten knowledge of the Force. Through his own unique leans, he studied the Force and uncovered the secrets of the Light…and the Dark. He understood the value of inner peace while recognizing the reality of life’s chaos. He knew that through passion, he would gain strength; through patience, he would gain knowledge; and through strength and knowledge, he would gain power. Unknown to those around him, Jeff was transformed. Although he continues to spend his days as an ordinary real estate attorney, Jeff has been reborn as ZeffKay. Away from prying eyes, the Force allows ZeffKay to do the things no one ever expected of Jeff: travel to far-off worlds, achieve professional prestige, accumulate great wealth, survive the most dangerous of adventures, and thrive where others might bow their heads. Armed with the power of the Force, our hero focuses on the journey, not the destination. ZeffKay devotes himself to the Force, improving his mind with its secrets and unleashing its power on his enemies, transforming with each completed quest.

I've started more times than I care to count. Last time I failed so miserably, that I gave up and stopped logging onto this site all together for about a month. I came upon this phrase "failing means yer playin'". As you probably figured, it means that it's better to be doing badly than to not be taking part at all. OK. This is a valid point. So here I am, playing again. I intend not to fail again, however! Of course I am coming in a week into the 4 week challenge (I hope this is OK). Main Goals: 1 – Walk at break at least 4 days per weekday 2 – Do cardio at least 3 times per week and strength at least three times per week. 3 – Create, get into, and stay in the habit of logging every meal, and by the end of this challenge I will be drinking 2 liters of water a day; I'm not sure that's quite enough, but if I make the goal TOO lofty I'll be setting myself up for defeat again. https://www.nerdfitness.com/character/78539

Well Well.. I can't believe I remember checking the forums.. only to find that I was on date for the new challenge! Jcmgm here! I can't think of a better class to fit my career, biologist, and my passions, surf, skiing and photography Summer's almost over! Here in Mar del Plata, the beach season has come and gone. Now it's time to get serious. Since my last challenge last year, I've managed to stay active and take care of my self sooo Goal One: Cook, cook, cook everyday! Goal Two: Vegetables everyday! Goal Three: Walk everyday. In addition to my crossfit (2x week) and yoga classes (2x week)! Goal Four: Piano everyday. I tried to make them easy.. not easy, simple.. As i'm finishing writing my thesis.. I'm kinda tired of writing! During this challeng I'll become a graduate, start a diving course, and launch my own blog.. Luckily, began to sell some of my own photos!

Zaelir was born at the end of the War of Souls in the tiny town of Solace. As dragons had burned down most of the town by the time she arrived, her parents were in empty company, but they stayed to provide shelter to travelers and soldiers alike. It is said that the remaining Heroes of the Lance gathered in Solace one last time before their deaths, but Zaelir remembers none of it. Stories are all she's ever known. The only battles she has ever fought are against the dust and ash of the old inn, though many nights she snuck out after her chores to climb through the great Vallenwood trees and practice her (somewhat reprehensible) archery skills. Every night when she returned home, she found a warm bed and heartache. Three nights ago, Zaelir's world changed. Always the listener, she sat by the fireplace listening to Steve the Troubadour, fascinated with the newcomer's yarns of the gods, old adventures, and a race of talking bulls! He must have noticed her rapt attention for he beckoned for Zaelir to sit next to him once the patrons had gone to bed. "I know your face," he said, rummaging in his large bag. "Branchala showed it to me in a dream one month ago, and I have spent these days searching for you." From his bag he pulled out a curious stringed instrument. "You are full of stories and music, and the gods will show you the way. But in order to fulfill your destiny, you must go to Branchala's Grove in the Wastelands." "The Wastelands?!" she gasped. "But I have never left home! And the Wastelands are thousands of miles north, past Solamnia!" Steve the Troubadour pat her shoulder. "Then I suggest a healthy ration of meats and a good pillow. And shoes, if you're the shoe type," he said, winking and wiggling his own bare toes. Zaelir looked down at the beautiful instrument and felt a longing tug at her heart. "But how do I get there?" She looked up, but the Troubadour was gone. So Zaelir packed her bags, said her goodbyes, and set off in search of a map and a guide. Her body, not used to the hard work of traveling day after day, needed to grow stronger, and so her journey began. ************** Level One Rebel Quests: Dailies: [1] Do 10 minutes of exercise outside of walking on the job every day for the next month. Focus on resistance training and core workouts with body strength [0/260 minutes] [2] Have at least one fruit or veggie with at least one meal [0/26] [3] Drink at least 40 oz of water [0/1,040] Challenge: Go on a day hike [0/1] LUYL: [1] Procure a cello and practice 15 min a day 4 days a week [0/240] [2] Learn to read bass clef and the proper fingering chart [0/1] [3] Successfully play 2 songs by the end of the challenge [0/2]

I deliberately took last week off from the challenges, as I hadn't had time yet to work out what I wanted to do. But after briefly considering just taking off the whole month, I decided I'd rather join late and continue pushing myself. Food 1. No more than 2 sweets per day. Sugary drinks (sodas, juices, etc.) count as a sweet. Chocolates, gummies, cakes, biscuits, cookies ... the list goes on and on! Sugar is definitely my downfall, and I want to make some real progress in cutting down on it. 2 PTS per day * 18 days = 36 possible PTS 2. Eat 1 veg with every meal. That's right! Every single meal, at least one veg. 3 PTS per day * 18 days = 54 possible PTS Fitness 3. Work out 3x per week. Tennis, running, yoga, bodyweight workout ... any and all movement activities count! 3 PTS per week * 3 weeks = 9 possible PTS Life 4. Finish reading The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown. Got this book for Christmas and started reading it then. If I don't make a specific goal to finish it, I know I won't, and I really want to. 1 PT ============= 100 TOTAL possible PTS

Rebel's log Challenge Date: 2/7/16 Today was a miracle. I was supposed to get together w/a cousin at a fast food place today. We set this meeting up a week ago. I went through the whole week thinking i was going to go over my allowed quota but this morning she called to cancel. A blessing in disguise i suppose. But went through a litany of emotions afterwards. Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers is more powerful than i thought. I took a fellow rebel's advice and just had a glass of water to take the edge off. Seemed to help. Another fellow rebel, Fleaball made me realize, i may be failing so much because i don't have a baseline or maybe trying to do too much. Must create base line for this month. I'll work on it and be back later once i have it together

For this challenge, I am doing the following: Diet 1. No more than 2x eating out in a week. This is kind of an odd one, because I'm counting what I don't do instead of what I do. But I've been eating out lots lately, and even though I've been working on making better choices with that, it's still not the healthiest and definitely not the cheapest option. I'll especially need to work on bringing a lunch with me to work. 2. Eat 2 veg every day. Fruits still don't count yet, but I'm working my way up to be able to do "5 a day," maybe next month. Fitness 3. Play tennis an hour every week. Little scary, since it's been a few years since I played last, and since I will have to meet new people (gasp!) at the tennis club. But looking forward to it!! (Psst: I'm also on a secret mission to run 1x a week as well, working further on Zombies! 5k.) Level Up 4. Clean for 5 minutes a day, anywhere in the house. Kitchen will be my focus initially, since this is easily my biggest failing as a housemate—leaving my dishes unwashed and un-dishwashered—but it may also include dusting, vacuuming, cleaning the bathroom, etc. Points 5 XP/wk for Eating Out, Tennis, Cleaning 10 XP/wk for Veg (with 5 pts for eating 1 veg daily) =============== 25 XP/wk 100 XP/mo I'm excited to join the Adventurers' Guild! I wasn't aware of its existence until partway through last month's challenge, but I think this is a much better fit for me, since I kind of want to do a little of everything!

Ok. Last challenge didn't go as planned. But hey, new month. Take 2! Rebel's Log Challenge Date: 3/1/16 New Day! Day 1 of new 4 week challenge. Here are the goals: LEVEL 1 REBEL CHALLENGE: Diet Consume soda and fast food only 2 times a weekConsume 64 oz or more of water per dayFitness Complete Exercise Starter's Exercise PlanComplete LG step and calorie goal 5 days a week (by whatever means necessary) Level Up Your Life Get 1 debt down to 1/2Draw everyday for this month (30 days) Current Weight as of 3/1/16: 186.2 lbs. Will post progress at end of new challenge (March 25th)

And when they ask you if you are ready for battle what will you say? Is it i carried a table around town last night humming the ninja turtles theme music? No? that's just me then it's not quite as strange as it sounds i had to get a small table back to my house and in line with my new Nerd Fitness anti-fragile strategy i thought i would carry it rather than put it in a taxi. I need to get fit again, the last year has been really difficult at work and I stopped exercising and eating well. I've been a member of nerd fitness for more than 180 days and i didn't make any progress to start with because i didn't have a plan. In the words of Steve i have been a total underpants gnome (book readers, you know what i mean) However i will now be experimenting on my underpants to see how to turn them into fitness (this is a weird metaphor). Basically i will be starting without a plan, plans are my downfall i spend lots of time crafting them and not much time doing them. Currently i'm trying to walk an additional 500 miles this year (tracking with my fitbit) (average last year was 4 miles per day/1460 per year). It's going ok but i'm a bit behind mostly due to the dark and cold it makes me kind of hibernate. i also did my first body weight workout on Saturday, assuming it will get easier as i build more muscles because it was great at the time then dire and hurty. ah well off we go

Hello, ranger folk. Since this is my first challenge ever in the big league (out of the Rebels Guild, I mean), I will bother you guys with a brief introduction. My name is Miss Kitty Fantastico and I will be joining you guys for the next few challenges (yey!). I am a 25 year old woman from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, who works a desk job as a ecommerce and marketing manager of a retailer of women's clothing. "I enjoy moonlit nights, taking long walks on the beach, unicorns, and knitting. In fact, I once took a seaside stroll on a moonlit night, and discovered a unicorn...which I proceeded to stab in the throat with a crochet needle. I am a woman of refined, yet simple tastes." *ahem* Seriously, though. I am a big nerd when it comes to games (if the Skyrim quote above wasn't indication), RPG, books and cats. Say "hi" to Banguela (portuguese for Toothless) and Lady Winterfell of House Gioielli (I will let you guys guess which is which ). I am also a big fan of electronic dance music and raves and festivals and THE VIBE.. and that is totally related to my MAIN QUEST for the next three of months, as you will see. A few weeks ago, my BFF and I decided to go to Tomorrowland Brasil 2016, one of the biggest electronic music festivals in the world (it is held in many different countries). It will be taking place on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th of april. After finally purchasing our tickets, we obvs got super excited and started watching ALL THINGS TOMORROWLAND on YouTube. We came across the aftermovie of last year's festival here in Brazil and, while watching it, we both looked at one another and basicly said the same thing: I wanna appear in the 2016's aftermovie and I wanna look good while doing it. Here is the vid in case anyone reading is curious: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eRMT29fKxtA"frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> So bam. My MAIN QUEST for the next couple of months is to prepare my body to look good for the festival. HAHA. Since "look good" is very subjective (and not a SMART goal), my MAIN GOAL for this challenge is to lose a bit more weight, so I can focus on "leaning out" during march and april. Anyway, I weight 53,2kgs (as of 25/01) , so for this challenge I will try to get down to 50kg to see if I can get rid of the stubborn belly fat. I will also will be paying close attention to my other body measurements and my BF% in case I need to adjust my tactics. And progress pics! Weekly progress pics! Now on to the goals! (Finally.) Height: 158cm/5'2''.Starting Weight (01/04):Goal Weight: 50kg/110lbs. Diet Goals - Keep eating at a deficit (1500 cals/day for weight loss, according to IIFYM calculator). Overeating isn't an option when you are living in the damn Castle Black as a recruit. I want to lose weight, so that means eating at a deficit. 1500 cals/day is what the IIFYM recommends for my height/weight/level of activity, so I will be using said amount as a starting point. I will grade this goal weekly though, which means less than 10500cals/week. - Eat more fiber during weekdays. My diet has been pretty solid and I am hitting my daily protein goal (100g) without any major issues, as well as keeping my carb intake to less than 100g for weigthloss. I figured I would make a fiber goal because somehow I am terrible at eating enough of it (25g/day), even though I eat veggies pretty much every day. So, for the next 4 weeks I will make a concious effort to up my fiber intake. I am making this a weekday thing, because I am known to fast during the weekends and/or give myself a little more leeway with what I eat (always keeping the 1500 cal/day or 10500 cal/week in mind, though). Week 1: 10g/dayWeek 2: 15g/dayWeek 3: 20g/dayWeek 4: 25g/day Fitness Goals - Crossfit at least 3x/week. Recruits must work on their strength and conditioning if they want to become grown up Rangers. You just need this sort of stuff to survive north of the Wall. Last challenge I was doing Crossfit 4x/week and I didn't miss a day (I even attended more sessions during the last week). I am pretty much in love with it, but ever since starting muay thai again I've decided to cut back a bit on my Crossfit sessions just so I don't end up burning out or something worse. Of course, if I am feeling good and rested enough and actually WANT to attend more sessions, I am free to do so. Hahaha. - Muay thai at least 2x/week. Recruits must have martial training so they can defend the Realms of Men against the Wildlings and the White Walkers. - NF Yoga 2x/week. At this point, I will be using the NF yoga sessions mostly for the stretching, since Crossfit + muay thai = a sore MKF. Life Goal - Fix the damn car. Recruits must care for the horses-- Blah. Hahaha. I just need to have my car's bodywork fixed in order to renew its documents in five months from now. Brazilian stuff. I have been putting it off since last year and finally have enough money saved to take it to a shop and leave it there for a few days. So.............

My Second 6 Week challenge-I hope its OK but I feel like I should still post here, as I wasn’t in any guild when I tried my first 6 week challenge, and 2-I really still feel like I am starting out! I am going to keep a lot of my missions the same, as I still have a ways to go – I had a few obstacles during the last one, including minor surgery and preparing for my brother’s wedding. Now things should by fairly normal (minus the follow up procedures for my surgery) Main quest: To lose weight and build muscle – I want to try and lose between 10-15 lbs this quest. Last time I had “to lose weight†with no specific goal, so this time I am trying a number. I do realize there is much more to weight loss than the number, so I am going to choose a pair of jeans to judge how they fit (or don’t) now then see how much better they fit at the end. Mini Quest: 1- Main Goals: 1 – Walk at break at least 4 days per weekday 2 – Do cardio at least 3 times per week and strength at least three times per week; including starting back up the Zumba classes I had been taking 3 – Create, get into, and stay in the habit of logging every meal, and by the end of this challenge I will be drinking 100 oz of water a day. Life Quest I want to be happy with my body and my health and the progress I have made along my journeys Why am I here? (motivation) My motivation is that I want to be healthier and confidant. My family has a history of diabetes and I want to get fit and lose weight to try and avoid this myself. I am very much my father’s daughter, down to physical genetics. I just lost him in June, and I know that a lot of what started his health-downfall was his weight , diabetes etc. I also want to feel good in my clothes, and in my own skin; I believe building strength and fitness will help me with my confidence, not only because I will lose the weight that I am so self-conscious about, but because of what I will accomplish and the hard work I know I will have put in. Now that we are just about to November (or into November once the challenge starts), I have the rest of the fall and winter to really get into and KEEP a good routine going, and hopefully by summer I’ll be seeing some major changes. I am not sure what guild I will ultimately end up in. My main goal right now is to lose weight – I have around 100 lbs to lose. However I want to build muscle (lifting) as well. I also just started rock climbing; I am very new at this as there is only one wall I can climb all the way to the top, so far. One of my very favorite work out activities is Zumba - so I am rather varied in my tastes and goals! I hope to be able to find some groups so I can both give and receive motivation and accountability. Can’t wait to begin again!

Hello again Warrior friends! And for those who are new, welcome to the rebellion! Pretty much fell off the wagon during the last few months of 2015, because growing tiny humans is exhausting. I'm now in the home stretch of this pregnancy thing, so my challenge will center around that. I'm due Feb 11th, so this will likely be my last challenge as a non-parent type person. Quit the sugar highs! As advised by my midwife, and now that the holidays are over, it's best for me to give up sugar as much as possible. Baby will be here soon, and if they are super used to high sugar levels, they might be in for a rude awakening when they are dependent on me for food that does not really have much sugar content. Up the protein! Not eating enough of the right things, especially protein, makes me reach for all the sugary, carb goodness. So this goal is basically an extension of the sugar goal. Keep moving! So, as a pregnant warrior, I am basically strength training every time I get out of a chair. And every time I have to go down 2 flights of stairs to use the bathroom (and the two flights back to my office). So while I am not doing any barbell/dumbell work, most of my daily life is body weight work. So in additional to continuing to be active around my house as much as I feel able, I want to be walking 10K steps a day. All of this will help me feel less sore and stiff, and keep me in moderate shape as I approach the marathon of labor. Clean and Declutter 15 minutes a day! Babies come with a lot of gear, and while I think I've done a good job of minimizing unnecessary baby stuff and sticking to basics, a new person in our home is going to require space for their things. So I need to keep working at clearing out old junk and being ruthless in throwing away things and not hoping that at some point I will sell it or donate it or whatever. If I haven't yet, I won't likely do it in the next month. So here's to staying sane and nourished and rested, so I'm at least feeling good going into a big life changing event! I know it will be hard, but if I can focus on the little things I can do to maintain my health, maybe I can get back to my goals a little bit sooner. But now I need a nap!

What? Two challenges in a row? Jeez. I realize I didn't do a lot of updating over the last challenge, and really no visiting of anyone else's threads. For me, NF is a very all-or-nothing thing. I used to spend all day on here, updating, reading, encouraging, playing in chat, etc. And then it got to be too much (well, Mr Mir felt it was too much because I wasn't spending any time with him). So, in my way of doing things, the NF switch got flipped to Off. I'm still not sure what an appropriate amount of time looks like. I miss interacting with nerds; I miss talking to the people that have encouraged and loved me through some of the hardest times in my (recent) life. So I'm trying. This is me, trying. I still don't have any clear goals for this challenge, other than continuing my am/pm routine and trying to turn it into a habit. Not doing so great so far - from Jan 11 to 31 I only did my am/pm stuff 6 times. It's easy stuff, but I just wait until too late and then I'm tired and say, "whatever, I can just do it in the morning". As far as the morning stuff...I'm usually running behind during the week, and I guess I'm just lazy on the weekend - I'll get up, put on some pjs, and go downstairs instead of cleaning my guard, which would take all of 2 minutes. Sometimes I take a step back and analyze the reason for putting these things into place to begin with. I don't want to get stuck back in a place where I feel guilty because I'm not doing the things I said I would, but the only reason I said I would do them was so I could accomplish some other goal, and I'm accomplishing the other goal without doing the things. (That seems rambly; does it make sense?) So like prepping my coffee the night before - is it necessary? Not really. I can do coffee in the morning. But it IS kind of nice (especially during the week) to be able to stumble downstairs and basically just hit "brew". Eliminating steps in the morning is good. And cleaning my occlusal guard isn't to accomplish something else but should be done for its own sake - because ew. And meds - goes without saying, really. So, yes, back to the goals. I don't know what to set. There are too many things and I can't decide what's most important. Is it important to do my physical therapy exercises? Is it important to set up a launch pad? Is it important to make sure the dishes are done every day? Is it important to keep laundry off the floor? There are too many options, and then I get overwhelmed and think maybe I should just keep trying the am/pm thing until it's a habit and then add things slowly. But then I think maybe I should discard the am/pm idea because it's not working. Too much stress. Very overwhelm. In other news, which I don't think I talked about last challenge, I got dumped by my therapist. (Bolding bc important thing in the middle of word vomit.) Being dumped sucks. Being dumped by a therapist REALLY sucks. Being dumped by a therapist via no contact/response really, really, really, REALLY sucks. I will admit that I was not great at keeping appointments. But I never no call/no showed. I always let her know. And really...last summer was tough. Some days I didn't have enough spoons to even get dressed. One day I emailed her (yes, we primarily communicated via email) to cancel/reschedule...and I never heard back from her. Ever. To this day. It was just a couple weeks before I was planning to go back to work, and I thought it was probably a good idea to see her. But yeah, no response. I tried not to judge; I figured maybe she was sick or wasn't practicing anymore or whatever. However, I heard through the grapevine that she is, indeed, still practicing. So I vagged up one day and called her. Got her voicemail stating she would return my call within 24 hours. Never heard back. Ever. To this day. It was fairly recent - about 2 weeks ago. Definitely informed my depressive episode. So now here I am, without a therapist, and still in that place of "omg, I'm going to have to find someone new and spend all that time and energy and effort AGAIN" - those of you who are/have been in therapy know exactly what I'm talking about. Rehashing everything all over again...it gets so old. Anyway...other than that, feeling generally sad and weepy today. And frustrated. Frustrated by many things. I'm trying to just sit with it and not judge or be mad at myself that I've basically gotten no work done yet today. Especially since I might start crying at any moment! But! There's a ray of sunshine in the darkness! His name is Benson; I've nicknamed him Bun Bun. He is adorable and soft and cute and sweet...but, in true guinea pig fashion, still very skittish and frightened. Hopefully he will warm up to me in time.

Rebel's log Challenge Date: 2/1/16 Day 1 of this new challenge and its 3:40am. Must sleep first before embarking on day 1. But this is how this challenge will go: LEVEL 1 REBEL CHALLENGE: Diet Consume soda and fast food only 3 times a weekConsume 64 oz or more of water per dayFitness (pick one) Complete Exercise Starter's Exercise PlanComplete LG step and calorie goal 5 days a week (by whatever means necessary) Level Up Your Life Get 1 debt paidDraw everyday for this month (29 days) i hope i can make it. For now, sleep. Will report later

Hello, Although it is not the first challenge I take part, I decided to reset and start at beginner's level again. What am I aiming for? Health, fitness, a fulfilling social life and financial independence. Since I am a little late, I will step in the current challenge with the following quests: 1) Health/diet: Drink alcohol at most once a week respectively not more than four times during the challenge. (goal: < 4) I am still on track at this goal. No alcohol this week so far. 2) Health/fitness: Stretch at least three times a week for at least ten minutes. (goal: 12/120 min) Here I have to speed up. Nothing done this week so far. 3) Fitness: Practice any sports activity at least 3 times and in total 60 min a week. (goal: 12/240 min) Activities will likely be running and bodyweight exercises at home. Also way to go this week. 4) Level up my live: Pass a climbing course (goal: did it) Should be achievable, since I am already registered and looking forward to it. Afterwards I will be allowed to climb in the climbing hall. Status reports will most likely follow at the end of each week.

I'm a relative noob to NF. Last spring/summer I joined the Academy and was making some good progress, but dropped off toward the end of the summer/early fall. Now I'm excited to start the year by getting back into the battle and training for greater combat! Diet 1. Eat at least one vegetable every day. 2. Cook 2+ meals every week. Fitness 3. Walk 10+ minutes every day. 4. Play tennis Go for a run every week. Level Up Your Life 5. Meditate 5+ minutes 3+ days a week. Each challenge is worth 5XP for a complete week. So it's 25XP each week when all 5 challenges are met, for a total of 100XP at the end of the month. I'm training to be a Druid-ish Ranger, so I wanted to start a Druid habit (meditation) and a Ranger habit (walking) with this challenge.

So umm.....hi. Let me explain....no, is too much. Let me sum up: I'm just coming out of the worst year of my life, complete with mental breakdown and taking a medical leave of absence from work, almost getting divorced, and all that good stuff. I've taken a LONG break from NF, for lots of reasons, but I miss my nerds TERRIBLY and I've decided it's time to come back. Plus, I'm trying something different this time. I've spent most of my adult life feeling like a failure, a fuckup, a worthless piece of sludge. I suffer from depression and ADHD, and so things that are simple for others are nearly impossible for me. While I don't necessarily compare myself to other people, I have in my mind this Ideal Person, and the kind of things this person does. I have wasted so much time comparing myself to this Person, falling short, and beating myself up for it. I've decided that it ends, NOW. I've decided to be the best Mir I can be, and that means embracing all the awesome things that make me Mir, while acknowledging my weaknesses but not hating myself for them. I'm not sure exactly how things work around here these days, and also I only decided yesterday to make a challenge, so here are my thoughts thus far: Main Quest: Love Thyself How am I going to accomplish this? I, errr....don't really know. What I've come up with so far is to ask myself two questions: Does this make my life easier? / What will make my life easier? Does this make me happier? / What will make me happier? The non easy/happy things are going out the window. I'm going to look at my life differently. I'm going to look at my SELF differently. I am simply not wired to be the Super Organizer that for some reason I've felt I should be. Instead, I'm wired to be fun, crazy, wild, creative, zany, loud, outgoing, etc etc etc. It's time to embrace me. It's time to be authentically Mir. Other things I'd like to accomplish, but I haven't decided the order/priority in which they fall (and certainly some of them are more than 4 week goals): start doing PT againgo back to gymmake good food choices/cook yummy food at hometake care of myself while at work (this includes things like actually taking a lunch, bringing food to eat instead of drinking coffee and eating candy all day, getting up from my desk once in a while, etc)get Etsy shop off the groundstart doing home improvement stuff again (painting, ugh)

Druids, how was your January? Pull up a cushion, grab a mug of tea, and tell us how the challenge went. What were your successes? What caused stumbles? What surprises did you find along the way? And of course, please share your insights. What did you learn? Will you be carrying pieces from January into February's challenge? Will you be with the Druids next round or will you visit a different guild, and why? Feel free to link to your February challenge in your reply.

OK, deep breath, this is my very first challenge. I've been thinking about good first quests as I leave the starting area (maybe not kill wolves and troggs for random stuff they carry) and its all gotten rolled up with my thoughts on new years. My main goals for the entire year are to get healthier- meaning lose fat and getting stronger. That will involve losing weight,but I don't have a solid number in mind. I also want more direction in my career. When I started strength training in early November,one of the things I noticed is that training sessions required my full attention. I couldn't be someplace else mentally and do them; I need to do that in my job more. On top of that, I was passed up for a promotion I was told I had for no reason I can tell. Combined with earlier reservations about the company I work for, it's a good time to reevaluate my position. I feel like I'm not living up to my talents, but I don't know how to best use them to make a living. Baby steps today..... I'm at the start of my adventure and, like in Dr Who it's exciting without any real sense of risk yet. There's also maybe some running later. I hope I end up somewhere beautiful and different. Now that I've rambled on long enough: Quest 1: Drink at least 3 qts of water a day. That's 12 cups and 96 oz. Quest 2: Strength training at least 2x/ week (preferably 3) Quest 3: Log my food on MYFitnessPal Quest 4: Make a decision about keeping my current job by the time the next management program window ends (Jan 19). Have a plan for next step in my career.

After the failure of last challenge I've fallen far. My fitness has taken a serious hit. I haven't ad an honest workout in over a month and I can tell it. I feel weak. I feel slow. My endurance has almost completely vanished. But that ain't wat this challenge is about, this challenge is about getting to the root of the problem, about tearing it up and burning it. GOAL ONE Got to start off with something physical. And it's just that, something physical. My goal hear is to get back on track, to start training again. Really this challenge is more about getting my body used to working, to prepare it for what I have planned. I'm not expecting to make much progress for these four weeks but I'll make some. GOAL TWO My diet has been bad. I've either not been eating or eating way too much. For this challenge since I don't have anything to extreme planned(with one exemption) I'm going to stick to a calorie deficit. I'm shooting for nine days out of ten. GOAL THREE I haven't been checking in like I should've. This is a major weakness of mine. And I'm not involved enough on the forums. I'm going to change that. Goal is to check in atleast every other day. GOAL FOUR I need to focus on my mind, on getting it back in shape. For this I plan on doing one thing per day that will work towards improving my mental strength and resilience. Be it reading a book to learn something new or applying stresses to force myself to work through them. By stresses I mean things like talking or being in a crowd. Stuff that freaks me out but I need to get better with. So that's my challenge. Not much to it. It might not come across in the way I wrote this but I'm doing a lot better then I have been. I'm optimistic about making it through this challenge 100%.

fitness goals Follow Darebee's 30 days of gravity workout. This will go 2 days over the 4-week duration of the challenge. I'll start today so the finish day will coincide with the end of the NF challenge. I'm looking forward to this. I've incorporated some Darebee exercises in my routines for the last few months but this will be the first time I've followed one of the programs. Drink at least 64oz water daily Weigh myself at least weekly My last challenge I focused on strength training and as something of an experiment I made a conscious effort to not weigh myself at all. I really increased my strength over those six weeks and interestingly lost almost two pounds. However, I've put on weight over the past three months and I know myself well: if I'm looking at the scale at least once a week I'll lose weight because it makes me even more conscious of my food input (and yep, I track using MyFitnessPal). So the goal is not to specifically lose weight for this challenge, only to track my weight, which I believe will result in a loss. cook dinner at least 4 times a week I'm really good at making/bringing healthy lunch and snacks to the office, but I've let my evening cooking slide a bit over the last three months. In retrospect, it's been a clear case of "cook fatigue." I've gotten tired of cooking, especially as I felt drained from the anxiety of doing well at the new job. Time to reinvigorate that, get some pre-cooking done on the weekends so I'm ready for the week ahead. life goals Just as Fall 2015 was beginning I was laid off from the dayjob. The startup I was working for was floundering in rising debt and dwindling revenue and simply couldn't afford the IT manager any longer. Since I knew I'd (unfortunately) have more time on my hands, I did the next NF challenge and made it part of the life goals to basically "find a job, dammit." I got a job offer a couple of weeks after that challenge ended, and I'm currently finishing up my first two months at the new job. That goal necessarily eclipsed all other life goals at the time, but I want --- need --- to revive those. The primary goal is to exercise my musicianship. I'm currently involved in a fun music project that has me orchestrating and composing for a very nerdy indie film that will see a release at the end of 2016. The demands on my spare time for that project will wax and wane, but the bulk of my involvement should be finished this month. With this in mind, my goal for this challenge is to do something as a musician at least three times a week, which can be anything from this list: work on the film project work on new/original compositions play any instrument (guitar, fiddle, mandolin, etc) record new songs I don't really need to set a minimum time for any of the activities in this list because once I start I quickly become immersed and lose track of time. If anything I'll have to put a cap on the session time so I don't stay up too late and hose my chances of rising on time for morning cardio. So those are my goals for the challenge: a handful of fitness goals, and a personal/life goal to do something I love three times a week.

Hello! I am new to this whole site in general. I started Paleo's 30 day detox/reset on January 1 and was searching the web for an online community to be a part of to keep myself motivated and found you guys! I am deciding to join the challenge to meet new people with similar goals and keep myself motivated to better myself for 2016. A little about me, I am a third grade teacher in Orlando, FL. I am currently finishing up my Master's degree at UCF. I have been in a committed relationship for over a year now and he too is a teacher but for second grade and also finishing up his Master's in the same field. We both aspire to be principals some day. I own a service dog, she's a doberman pinscher who is 3 years old and my all time best four-legged friend. My boyfriend and I love to travel and are looking into moving into together in August so we are currently saving up money to make this possible. Between work, grad school, a boyfriend, and a dog life got really busy really fast and I fell off the health wagon. I was consuming candy bars as snacks and frozen pizzas for dinner. Not an ideal life style. I kept blaming it on the stress but in reality I only have myself to blame. I used to be a professional dancer (ballet, jazz, contemporary) and would travel with a production company before I became a teacher. I was very active with that company and doing crossfit. I weighed 118. I now weigh 145 and I'm only 5 feet tall. Not how I like seeing myself. I've decided to stop blaming extenuating factors and get myself active again, get back into crossfit, get on Paleo, and cleanse my life. After reading Antagonist's post I liked that she had financial quests in there too so I'm following her template. As for my diet and fitness quests, instead of doing two diet quests since Paleo eliminates all sugars and carbs, I'm going to do two fitness quests. Diet Quest Strictly stick to Paelo's 30 day detox and then beyond that. Fitness Quest Crossfit at least two times per week Ballet once a week (at home yoga if cannot make a ballet class for whatever reason) Life Quest Go to bed 10 minutes earlier Spend 5 minutes a day cleaning my room Financial Quest Brew coffee at home Make meals at home instead of going out to eat Bring lunch to work and snacks to grad classes Work on internship resume and documentation for at least one hour a week Mental Quest Meditate every morning upon waking up or before letting the kids into the classroom Keep journaling the entire 30 days