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It's me. Hi. It's a new challenge and I'm ready to Begin Again. During the last challenge I focused more on weight loss: tracking macros, running, and drinking water - and long story short, it worked! I broke out of the 180s plateau and lost about 4-5lbs during the challenge. So Is It Over Now? Of course not, I still have a long way to go trying to reach my End Game of weight loss. But focusing so narrowly on weight loss was starting to feel like Death by a Thousand Cuts. It's time for a Change... so I'm going to Shake it Off. This challenge, I'm telling cardio and macros, "You're Losing Me," and concentrating more on strength training and simple calorie counting. Basically this is me trying to build a better relationship with strength training, to enjoy it instead of just tolerate it. I also want to Speak Now about working on my mental health this challenge. My State of Grace is to actively work on cultivating happiness. Part of that is being more productive at work (because fighting against executive dysfunction gets me Down Bad). The other part is nurturing activities that don't feed on cheap dopamine like facebook and fan fiction. I want more phone-free time: whether it's time spent creating, with my kids, or enjoying The Outside. ?? GOALS ?? Don't be Delicate Exercise 4x a week (M/T/T/F) Strength Training first, program details here Followed by a 20 min run or 40 min walk Intention: Build muscle and increase amount I can lift while maintaining some cardio for weight loss Mastermind my Food Intake Stay under calorie budget on LoseIt daily Aided by eating low-carb, high-protein but not required Intention: Keep focus on weight loss through simple CICO Water Hits Different Drink 8 cups of water a day Continued from last challenge Intention: Continue to build the habit of drinking enough water Work like a mad woman 6 Pomodoros every work day (work for 25 minutes with a 5 minute break) Light work like checking emails, slack, or Asana doesn't count toward goal Intention: Improve focus at work, get more actual work done, and feel rewarded by productivity flow You Need to Calm Down Chose an enjoyable, non-phone based activity for at least 30 minutes a day Bonus points for doing more than one activity Ideas: - Reading a book (not fan fiction) - Creating something or engaging with art or hobbies - Taking a walk or hike - Visiting with friends - Playing with the kids - Any pastime people enjoyed doing 50 years ago Intention: Kick the cheap dopamine habit (aka doomscrolling) and spend phone-free time pursuing pleasurable slow-paced activities ?????????? So Long Live the challenge we've made - and remember, it's a shiny new NF Challenge, so baby just say YES.

As of today, I have 348 days to get down to 200lbs. Progress: 4/75lbs Quest: Lose 5lbs (268lbs) 1. Track calories 5 times per week 2. 90 additional minutes of movement per week 3. A productive thing per day 4. Work on painting once a week Specific productive tasks

Hey all, I am back to attempt a challenge. I didn't participate in the last challenge. I ended up bowling in my yearly USBC Open Tournament. This year (and next) is in Las Vegas. I totally was unprepared for it, but did much better then I expected I just didn't have it in me to get in on a challenge too. Life is a bit hectic. I've been struggling. 2018, keto was an absolute awesome thing for me. I've tried to get back to it. Sometimes it seems successful, but then it all comes crashing down. This challenge, I really want to see if I can just eat in a certain calorie range. Though, I still want to be healthier still of course. I just want to be able to eat whatever fruit I may want etc. So I really just want to focus on tracking again, with a set amount of calories. Of course, I really want to drop weight super fast. I think that really has not worked well though. I mean, I lost like 110 or 120 pounds in 2018. Struggled in 2019, then full blown gain everything back early 2020. Way back in 2013/2014 was a similar weight trip for me. Of course, it was a quick bounce back. So as much as I want to lose all the weight, I really thing I just need to focus more on a slower weight loss. Also working to just get myself better with exercise. All the things to work together will get me losing weight. So let's see if I can just get this started up. There will be a caveat here too. Like I said, life is a bit hectic. Wife might be losing her job (most likely). So she will be looking for work I assume during her transition out. Nothing confirmed yet, but there will be more Monday. With that, it is certainly time that need to get back out there, and get some work. I've been stay at home Dad since 2010, so no clue what I would even try for. This challenge could just totally implode, and I have to rethink the goals depending on what all happens. Goal#1 - Tracking, plus under 2500 calories. In the past I thought about 2300 calories was were I wanted to be at when I was eating keto. I'll have to monitor things to see if I need to adjust things up or down for calories. For now though, I want to target 2500. Preferable +/- 99ish. I don't want to under eat too. I'll track everything in Chronometer. 7 days a week. 10 points per day. 70 points total Goal#2 - Move more One thing for sure, I need to get out walking at the bare minimum. I felt that for sure when I was bowling. Day 2 I was bowling 6 games. I was running on fumes those last 3 games. Even less then fumes haha. To start, I am going to walk for 30 minutes each day. By the end of this challenge, I would like to be walking twice a day for 30 minutes, or an hour walk. Plus I want to be working out. Just body weight workouts, or all at homes style workouts. Week 1 I start with walking for 30 minutes (more is fine too). Week 2 I continue the walking. Week 3 I added in workouts with the walking. Week 4 is working out with more walking. Add in the second walk, or longer first walk. At least for a few of the days. Week 5, I get it all together. 7 days a week. Week 1/2 - 10 points a day. 70 points on the week. Week 3/4/5 - 70 points for walking each week. 40 points for workouts each week. (3 to 4 still need to figure it out) 110 points on the week. Goal#3 - Please go to bed! What do you know, I need to get myself in a sleep challenge again. Oddly enough, I've been staying up late reading. Before it was playing games, watching videos. I have been trying to work on getting to bed at a good time, but I haven't nailed it. I've gotten into a few books, and just would sit here reading for 3 to 4 hours. Suddenly, it's 3:30 in the morning haha. So no more "Just one more chapter" or "one last video" I want to get back to 10:30 PM to get off the computer or whatever, and get to reading. Then, head off to bed at 11:30 PM. 7 days a week, 10 points a day. 70 points for the week. Goal#4 - Chores and downsize Part of my move more is going to get into getting chores routine again, and clearing through things. Too many things in this apartment that we really just need to get rid of. We have a storage unit too that we should make our way through, and get rid of it. Less bills are good. Each day, I need to get cat boxes cleaned out, and dishes done. I need to spend at least one hour during the week on downsizing. I think it will be much more then that, but I just need a smaller time frame to just get started 10 points each day for the chores. 70 on the week. 50 points a week for the downsizing. (I really want to get though some things) 120 total points each week Total challenge points: Week 1 (6/20 - 6/26) - 0/330 Week 2 (6/27 - 7/03) - 0/330 Week 3 (7/04 - 7/10) - 0/370 Week 4 (7/11 - 7/17) - 0/370 Week 5 (7/18 - 7/24) - 0/370 Measurements - First day / Last day Chest - 55.98 in / Waist - 62.51 in / (L) Bicep - 17.83 in / (R) Bicep - 17.00 in / (L) Thigh - 30.78 in / (R) Thigh - 29.33 in / Weight (lbs) - 370.8 /