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Establishing a Baseline OK! I've done two challenges here so far and they've both gone fairly well. Not as well as maybe I'd like (or as I could probably do), but decently well enough. I've increased my strength over both of them, my hydration over the last one, and am working on my flexibility too. I did all of this because I wanted to get started and do things or I wouldn't get started or do things at all. Now it's time to get a baseline. Quest 1: Track all caloric intake and exercise. I don't know exactly how much I eat or how much the exercise I do affects anything. I used to think that food tracking was for weird people...but then I thought recently, "wtf, I AM A WEIRD PERSON." So it's time to get on the bandwagon. I'd like to know what I'm eating now so that in six weeks I can take a look at where I am and decide where I'm going. I can't really adjust my eating habits if I don't really know what they are, now can I? This isn't a quest to judge me for what I'm doing; it's a quest to get to know me. I will strive for these six weeks to not be harsh with myself for doing or eating what I normally would. I know that as a consequence of tracking my intake, some of it will naturally change, but that is not the point of this exercise. Grading: 7x/week = A While I'm doing that, I want to kick my workouts up a notch. I may not be completely ready for the Advanced Bodyweight Workout, but if I waited until I was completely ready to try something, I'd never go anywhere! Quest 2: Bodyweight workouts I can do some modifications to the ABW to more match where I'm at, but I think I'm ready to move on from the Beginner Bodyweight Workout. I've started seriously working on completing a pull up, and I can do 2-4 pushups on the floor (depending on the day/set). I can do deep squats too! One-legged is just a step away. My fiancé is even working out with me now, so this is extra motivation to not slack off. He may stay at the beginner routine since he just started doing this with me a couple weeks ago. Grading: 3x/week =A And what's a good workout without some flexibility? Bending and stretching and being able to move in many directions is an important component of future goals, so I'm keeping a quest from last time (assuming that's allowed!). Quest 3: Stretching and sleeping By far last challenge, consistently stretching was the quest I did worst on. Either I didn't want to in the morning because I was tired, or I forgot in the evening because I was tired. So this is a two-part quest. First part, I need to get to bed at about the same time every night, weekends included, so that I can get in the proper sleep cycles before morning. I already know that I need to be asleep before 10:30 in order to hit that spot. Second part, I need to get out of bed at about the same time every morning and do my stretching. It's a good way to start the day and, along with water, helps me feel more awake. Grading: In bed before 10:15p 5x/week = A Out of bed before 6:10a 5x/week = A I'm allowing myself a couple of days for wiggle room as I adjust to this two-part quest. They are graded separately, but I must pass both of them to gain a level. Finally, while I'm improving my body, let's also expand my mind! As I search for a new job, it's remarkable what skills recruiters are looking for these days outside of the regular what would be expected. It will be good to learn new things as well as add some skills to my resume. Life Quest: Coding Html is the code of choice in my field, it seems. Some of the bits on my company's website, as well as our e-mail marketing site, are easier to figure with some html knowledge. So I'll take these six weeks as a time to get a basic knowledge of html coding. I already have an account at CodeAcademy and had started one of their programs a while back. I will restart that program and progress as I gain confidence. Grading: 3x/week = A And now, to get at it!

Hello fellow​ NF rebels! I'm Sam, a long-time lurker but first-time poster on the forums. I live in North Yorkshire in the UK, and led a life that was completely devoid of any sort of healthy stuff until last March, at which point I realised that I didn't want to be the sort of person who's unfit and hates the way they look for their whole life. Anyway, I'm 24, female, live with my lovely partner and run my own French tuition business. I love every aspect of my life except my looks and generally poor physical condition, but am really proud with how far I've come. I have mild asthma which I always used as an excuse not to do any exercise as I always got out of breath within the first minute. After 10 months of concerted effort however, I can run 5 miles without stopping, do 70 squats and 250 sit ups. I still cannot do a press up however! I've been focusing on running and bodyweight exercises as I don't have a gym membership or a big enough house for any big equipment, but I did get a core bag (a.k.a a sandbag) for Christmas so that's a new addition to my fitness routines! Tl;dr version: I started getting fit last year, and now can run 5 miles without stopping. Aiming to do the Great North Run (a half-marathon) in September. Main Quest: To be able to run a half marathon on the 13th September 2015 Quest 1: Go on a run of any length at least 3 times a week. Measurement: A= ≥ 3 x a week, B= 3 a week at least 4 weeks and no fewer than 2 a week. C= 2 a week all weeks or more. Reward: A = +3 STA, +1 DEX, +1 CON, B = +2.25 STA, + 0.75 DEX, +0.75 CON, C = +1.5 STA, +0.5 DEX, +0.5 CON Quest 2: Go on a run of > 5 miles at least once a week. Measurement: A= 6 long runs, B = 5 long runs, C = 4 long runs. Reward: A = +4 STA, +1 CON, B = +3 STA, +0.75 CON, C = +2 STA, +0.5 CON Quest 3: Go to the doctors for a chest check-up Measurement: A = book appointment, go and follow through with any advice, B = book appointment and go, C = book appointment. Reward: A = +2 CON, B = +1.5 CON, C = +1 CON Life Quest: Finish my coding courses in HTML, JS and PHP Measurement: A = finish all three, B = finish two, C = finish one. Reward: A = +3 WIS, B = +2.25 WIS, C = +1.5 WIS Motivation: I mainly want to live a long and healthy life in a body which is working with me, rather than against me. I also am really enjoying seeing how far I can push myself and the rush that I get after each run. The vain reason is that I'm getting married in the summer and I would love to look my best, and to continue to look my best while I'm young! And in terms of my geeky credentials, I have recently got into coding in a big way, love Doctor Who and everything that Joss Whedon has ever done, (Firefly and Buffy are my absolute faves, although his version of Much Ado was incredible too) and hardcore French grammar. Also lists. And tongue-in-cheek statements.

Hey everyone! So this is my second and a haflth challenge. Why the half? I sorta dropped out in the middle of the last challenge I did a few months ago. I love this site, but unfortunately I'm pretty terrible at forums...I always seem to wander away. Hence the thread title...why do we fall? So we can learn to get back up again. Determined get back up now, and here's why. After several years of job-related struggle, it seems that I've finally landed a job in my career field (transportation engineering/planning). Because of bureaucracy, I have to wait a few weeks before I have an official offer and start date, but I've been told by the department director and hiring manager that I've got it. While the start date isn't nailed down yet, it will probably be somewhere in mid-October, conveniently near the end of this challenge. I've made great strides in the past couple of years with health and fitness, but I want to make sure that doesn't get lost in this huge life transition I'm about to make. So with that in mind, here's the challenge! I apologize in advance for my incredible verbosity. Main Quest: Create and maintain healthy habits to carry through this new chapter in my life. Goal 1: Work out four times a week. No less than three! I started CrossFit at the end of May/beginning of June and really enjoy it, though my attendance has lapsed in the last week and a half. My goal is to work out at the box 3 times per week. Usually I go to afternoon classes on my days off or on days when I have later shifts. However, over the next few weeks, I will gradually shift to earlier classes, so that when I start my 9-5 job, I will be able to attend the early morning WODs before work without it being a huge transition. I still have a regular gym membership. My plan is to go here once a week (generally Sundays) to work on lifts I think I need extra practice with, do movements that the CrossFit programming hasn't done recently, etc. Goal 2: Eat to grow! I used to be a heavy guy. I've successfully lost almost 50 pounds by following the Paleo/Primal way of eating and not constantly stuffing my face. So now I've successfully met the goal of "don't be fat." The next step is "be strong and fit." Goal 1 obviously plays into this, but I need to eat to fuel myself. Part of me is terrified of the "eat more to gain muscle" idea because I'm afraid I'll just get fat again. Over the past couple of weeks, I've been trying to get past that, and it's been working out well so far (get it?). I aim for about 3,200 calories per day from primal-friendly sources, though my carb intake will be higher on workout days (particularly post workout). I'll be tracking with MyFitnessPal and monitoring my weight, body fat percentage, etc throughout this, so if I need to adjust up or down, I can. A corollary of this will be to eat home-cooked meals as much as possible, so I'm not dropping obscene amounts of money on food. At the end of the day, I don't have a particular weight goal. It's more about performance, plus a side of how I look Goal 3: Tone down the drinking. I have a bad habit of going out to bars (well, a particular bar) by myself when I'm bored and nobody is around to hang out. No more. My worst episodes of inebriation have happened in that situation, since there's not much do do besides drinking and texting. Also I will decrease consumption when I go out with friends. It's hard to quantify, because I don't drink beer (makes me feel like crap) and mixed drinks can vary in alcohol content from place to place. But basically, being relaxed is fine, but I want to make being drunk a rarer thing. Mark's Daily Apple had a rule of thumb: "If you feel off the next day, you had too much." I'll start with that rule and go from there. This will have side benefits too, like being better for my budget and better for sleep. I've got a couple of friends on board with this, so that should help too. Life Goal: Finish the Codecademy Python course. This is a goal from my aborted last challenge. I'd always assumed that I was terrible at coding, but never really gave it a chance. For the last challenge, I was learning Python on Codecademy, but stopped halfway through. Now that I know I'm starting a job that will include using ArcGIS, this has become more important, as the reason I wanted to learn Python was for ArcGIS scripting. So I'm going to get back into Python. It's been so long that I think I will just start from the beginning again. If I have time, I will practice using this in ArcGIS itself, so I can be extra prepared when my job starts. Motivation: Defy expectations. Ever since I was little, I'd assumed that I'd be a fat, weak guy with a distinct lack of self-confidence for the rest of my life. Well, little by little I've been chipping away at that. I'm not heavy anymore. I do better with people than I used to. The next six weeks are to get me moving in the right direction to be healthier and stronger, and to start this important next step in my life with confidence. Here's to it! I may add attribute points later, but at the moment, I've got to run to CrossFit.

My last challenge was less successful that I had hoped. Most likely because my previous goals were not specific enough. This time around I'm going to make my goals SMART and focus on being a kick ass ranger. Goals: 1. It's Paleo, Not Faileo Last few months I've been trying (and failing) to eat clean. I'm about 60-70% paleo right now. I don't eat grains, soy or dairy products, but I enjoy my sweets and booze a little too much. Here's my plan to give up the crap and replace it with stuff that I should be eating. Week 1: Give up soda and replace with water Week 2: Stop grabbing fast food and make my lunches at home instead Week 3: Cut out alcohol (goodbye red wine) and replace with either club soda or water Week 4: Replace sugar and artificial sweeteners with natural sweeteners such as honey Weeks 5 & 6: Continue to eat clean and monitor the results 2. Mighty Morphin Programmin Time (Wait, what? I know it's cheesy, but I couldn't help it.) Currently enrolled in a free Ruby On Rails class through EdX. In order to complete the class, I need to get my but in gear. For the next six weeks, I'm going to devote atleast 15 minutes per day on coursework. I'm going to reserve 15 minutes of my lunch hour to this so I know that it will get done. 3. Focus on Inches, Not Weight My third, and final, goal is to lose atleast one inch from my waist. This is going to be accomplished by focusing on my diet in goal #1 and working out 5 times a week. 3 days will be devoted to bodyweight exercises provided by BodeeFit. 2 days will be yoga and pilates. Starting Stats: Height: 5'8" Weight: 185 Waist size: 40"