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Last challenge I tried to keep things fairly simple, and that went mostly ok. So I’m trying again. Simple goals. 1) Keep moving run at least 2x a week go to martial arts classes – 2x jujitsu, 1 x kickboxing cycle to work at least 2x a week (with allowances for weather because, scotland) at home technique or bag work 2x a week Dark days option – if the days get too short on me then I’ll switch from cycling to work to hitting to the gym. All depends on daylight and temperature and dampness…….. And I want a life priority music opt out….. If I get a gig, then that wins over training. Sad but true. Unfortunately I’m already missing 2 of this challenge’s kickboxing classes. All the more reason to do at home technique! 2) Food Key guidelines for me = gluten free, dairy light, mostly AIP compliant but with some rice and other gf grain. I gotta keep getting this right, cause I keep getting it wrong at least once per challenge….. Trying really hard to have no diet related illness this challenge. Funnsies = post at least 2 recipes in the monks kitchen! 3) Music Play that bass 6 days a week. Funnsies = jazz session - once a week. Bonus points = have a trio rehearsal. I am super excited about this - we're 2 gigs in and have already been asked for our CD!!! Perhaps its time to actually rehearse...... We had such a blast in those two gigs, if this could turn into something semi-regular, that would be superb. But organising jazz musicians = herding cats, so one rehearsal in 6 weeks sounds about right. Keeping track: Runs: 0/12 Cycle: 2/12 Technique practise: 0/12 Bass: 1/36

Hi everyone! A new challenge, a new beginning, brand new possibilities. The previous challenge really taught me how important it is to keep some basic fundations in place, for everything else to work properly. So this time around I'll keep my focus on the basic things that make me a kinder, healther, more functional human being. The recipie is simple: Write. Laugh. Play. Sit quietly. Think. Summer is here! For me it means one thing: packing up my dearest belongings and going off to my grandma's house. She's like the kindest person ever, who lets me live with her (for free) while I am working as a tourist guide at the town's museum. The main museum/tourist season starts a week into the challenge, so most of my days will be spent at the edge of the world (aka close to Russia and the North Atlantic Ocean) making waffels and talking about migration, fishing culture, and peat. There will be a lot of familiy everywhere, people I've not seen for a year etc, and there's the added stress of living in someone elses home over an extended period of time. This challenge is created with the intention of enchanting enjoyment in and of all this. And making myself take time off, because I know I'll be needing it.. Think and Sit quietly Ten mintutes of meditation everyday At least five minutes of deliberatly starring into the air, out the window, or whereever without guilt or distracting myself with [screens or people]. Gives three Sparklepoints each. Laugh and Play On one side this is a very physical goal of wanting to actually be able doing a whole 1.5 hour forrest yoga session. I can now do the one-hour classes I've got avilable (yays!), but the practice is very intense. And due to how my body works, really intense exercice usually makes me sick. So, I've got to be smart about this. do yoga every day (even five minutes in baddha konasana counts): three sparklepointsWalk/cycle everywheredo 1-hour forrest yoga classes at least three times a weekWaiting until week four with trying a full 1.5-hour class (if/when successs an instant 50-sparklepoint-bonus!)On the other side there is the little things. Like remembering to check in on my Ukulele and unicycle (so the last challenge won't be a total waste), and playing with dogs and eat icecream.Write Writing something everyday. Just something simple as To-do-lists, shopping-lists or a haiku is better than nothing. Ranting here is perfectly fine as well. The thing is, I'll spend the next year writing things, my MA theisis for instance, so I might as well make it a joyus habit now. It will make everything else easier later on. Gives three Sparklepoints each time done. Sidequest1: Foodtracking. Sooo, turns out I am underweight. After a resent dare, I despise bathroom weights thank you very much, I realized I am weighing the same now as I did as a teenager. And while being a fairly skinny teenager is ok, carrying those very same kilos as a 25-year-old gives me a BMI that is less than 17. That was a wake up call. Huge one. At least three times a week I'll track my food intake, making sure I am getting enough calories. I haven't desided on tracking method just yet. Gives three sparklepoints for each time done. Sidequest2: Cooking primal for grandma There might be recipies.... All quests somewhat relatemto the following goals for 2015 (quoted from my battle log) Good luck on your challenges everyone!

A battle log, a b-log, blog: A Bringing Actual Thoughts To Life Entity on Living Online Grounds – of life, universe and everything (how I plan getting past the 42-mark). In other words a Respawn Project (but that doesn't sound like much fun to me). Somewhere in the deep archives of Nerdfitness there is a 2-3 year-old-introduction post. But since this is a story of new beginnings, I'll start rewriting a introduction: My tale started in 1990, about ten weeks early. When I was a kid I wanted to be a ballerina-artist-jockey-acrobat-composer-phototographer-martial-artist. But my body never handled excercice well, or anything else for that matter, and I probably still have the under-age record for pneumonia and bronchitis survival in Norway (which is were I'm from, by the way). Fast forward to spring 2014. Things got so bad I could barely think, let alone finish a degree at the University (or god forbid tell anyone I couldn't finish - the irony, I know). So eventually this somehow led to a coeliac diagnosis.Turns out I wasn't lazy, nor crazy, just malnourished . Bummer. And this is probably why body/mind had been screaming for as long as I can remember. So, this year I am turning 25. And I want a life. A life of joy, sparks, friends, connection, movement, art, and dancing-around-being-plain-silly. All the things I never got. Now is a good time as ever. And my goal for now is simple: not having 2015 as my worst year ever, and thus far it looks pretty bright. How I am doing this: 1) Avoiding evil gluten that is hiding bloody everywhere. 2) Finding new and old friends 3) Doing more of the things I love, but haven't done in ages because unlimited amounts of meh!. 4) Mapping other foods I must avoid for the time being, hoping to get them back into my life soon. 5) Making sure I get enough rest/sleep/down-time. 6) Practicing honesty, through nonvoilent communication. 7) Celebrating as many small wins as I possible can! 8) Working smarter, not more, with all-the-things-i-should-and-sometimes-love-doing 9) Exploring new things; food, interests, walks, games, gluten free beers and more. 10) And joining Nerdfitness, this time for real! This will be a place of jotting down, rambling and musing. Making notes to self about what works and does not. Perhaps not your usual battle log, but it will be mine:) In the long run I hope making it an entertaining read. Good luck on your journeys everyone!

Goals: 1) Stay healthy 2) Play more music 3) get fitter/faster/stronger So, goal 1 = food and handwashing. I've had this one for a few challenges - but I'm keeping it, cause if I eat any gluten, then that is pretty much me gone for 6 weeks. No gluten containing food, read labels, don't take food risks. Wash my hands whenever I'm in doubt about what I've recently touched. All of this is starting to feel more like routine behaviour, but I want to consolidate it. To make this more fun I'm also going to try new recipes - not as fixed this time as a compulsory recipe a week, but I still have a huge list of recipes I want to try pinned to the side of the fridge. Yum! Goal 2: Play more music. Yep, do what it says on the tin. My double bass playing lapsed in December - I'd been practising towards some gigs, and after the gigs I stopped. My bad. So, get going again. My sticker reward calendar system is on the go again. Everytime I practise = a sticker on the calendar = happiness. Play at least 5/7 days. That way, one day off is not a failure, simply a rest day. Again, build this back into a routine. Especially because it makes me feel like me. Goal 3: Exercise...... This is where my goals are a bit muddy. I've signed up for edinburgh 1/2 marathon in late may (sodding peer pressure). So, its time to build a running base - this is going to be a mixture of outdoors and treadmill. My current thinking is: saturday = 5k parkrun, sunday = long run, wed and friday treadmill work, one day intervals or hill intervals and the other a steady run. Looking at this, I don't like having runs friday, sat, sun, but my running workouts are slotted in around martial arts training and bass practise (tues and thurs are evening martial arts classes, so my only double bass playing is before work). I'll have to see how this goes. I'm currently planning monday as my rest day (day after long run and rehearsal in the evening). I also want to do some bodyweight strength work - based around the academy BW workouts, somewhere level 3/4 ish. This is looking like only being 2x a week (wed and friday) but maybe also on saturday after parkrun. But I'm here not because of running or strength training, I'm here because my favourite exercise sessions are all martial arts training! I have classes to go to: sunday night, tuesday and thursday. So yep, I'll go to them. But...... ideally I want to do at home work to build on my technique..... especially as I might be doing my 3rd Dan kickboxing (our club fits under a sports karate banner) grading later this year. Soooooo, make it to training and somehow, at currently unscheduled times of the week fit in 2 or more at home training sessions. Ahhhhh rubbish, this doesn't look like building a routine, it looks like Lou does all of the things............. But I like doing all of the things......... and I've not even mentioned lunchtime yoga! That doesn't need to be a goal cause I love it very much indeed.

My last challenge was mainly about admitting that I felt like rubbish and wanted to feel better. This week, I've felt awesome! It could be a fluke, it could be because I played a stupid amount of music in the weekend and am lacking sleep. Or, it could be that I'm reasonably healthy again. Please please please let it be the last one. So, I want to stay healthy. Mission 1: Stay healthy Components: Good food - for me this is gluten free, dairy light (some butter, maybe some cheese, but most days dairy free), and for this challenge I'm also going to eat at least one meal a day that is grain free. The fun bit is to cook a new recipe every week. Clean kitchen - just like it says on the tin, I cooks, I cleans, I eats, I washes up those peaky dishes. Wash my hands like I'm in the lab. I instituted this last challenge, and I think it helped me avoid cross contamination. So, keep doing it. Rest - if needed, rest takes priority over almost everything else. No guilt, just fess up that I won't be turning up and rest up good. Mission 2: Music Play that bass - 5 days a week (7 is an amazing goal, but lately I haven't managed it, so 5 is more manageable, and means much less guilt, and I can enjoy the days that I can play). Play more jazz! Not sure how I'll manage this - I need to find people to play with and organise meeting up - so a lot of this might be organisation and preparation rather than actual playing, but if I don't organise it, it won't happen. Mission 3: Exercise I need to find a groove with this - its going to be a mixture of jujitsu training, kickboxing training, yoga and gym. When concerts and life don't get in the way, I try to get to jujitsu 2x a week (but this might be changing as there is the possibility of jazz instead of jujitsu on tuesday, and I'm very undecided about which is better for me), kickboxing 1 x a week, yoga 2 x a week, the gym 2-3 x a week, plus possibly a couple of outdoor runs (5k park run on a saturday and a longer one on sunday). Confession time: its ages since I've managed all of that in a week - so I want to ramp up into it, and see how it goes. Complications: The festive season - there will be some extra gigs and some social stuff - I want to enjoy these, and not get all guilty about them. So a certain amount of flexibility is required. I probably won't make jujitsu training the day of the work christmas lunch....... Sigh. Oh, and time for christmas preparation? Family guff - my parents will be staying with me for about 12 days of the challenge - I'm not sure what I'll manage challenge wise during this time...... And my priority has to be having a good time with them - especially as this is them en route to NZ as they move from Sweden. Big life changes. So there is a bit of a free pass on everything for those 12 days - any exercise I manage there is a bonus. Summary: It looks a lot like Lou does all of the things.........

When I grow up I want to be a monk - gotta kick butt at this challenge first. Back story = 43 year old female, day job = science, play job = music (double bass), already love martial arts - I'm a 2nd Dan black belt in kickboxing/sport karate, and an orange belt in jujitsu, but my training is slightly more sporadic than I like and I have a life goal which is a bigee for me for this challenge. I've been hiding out in the nerdfitness academy for a while, and it now feels like time for a challenge. Big goal = get fighting fit What is fighting fit? 1) healthy I have coeliac disease (yippee!) so I have to completely avoid all gluten, this means a lot of food preparation and a lot of care when I eat food that I haven't prepared, and when I get it wrong I'm ill for about a fortnight, then ropey for longer, so I absolutely must avoid all of the gluten. And when I've made bad poor choices then the range of food that i can stomach drastically reduces. I want to feel that cooking healthy food is a tasty and delicious choice, and to help it feel like fun I have a food goal of trying one new recipe a week. Two grades for this as staying healthy is a huge goal at the moment: Gluten - complete avoidence = A, any consumption = Fail 6 new recipes = A, 5=B, 4=C ,<4=Fail 2) Fit Trained in martial arts i Kickboxing class is on a sunday ii Jujitsu classes are tuesday and thursday (hopefully there will be a grading in the next 6 weeks - if there is then my jujitsu goal is to pass my grading from orange to green belt) I will get to these classes and ideally have one or two consolidation sessions each week at home. Plus, I will cross train to improve my fitness, my flexibiltiy and my strength The cross training is: i yoga twice a week ii Body weight training three times a week (currently in a slightly modified level 2 of the Academy BW, in the 6 weeks, get to level 4) iii Running for CV fitness (treadmill running on the same days as the BW training, and a longer outdoor run in the weekend) Complicating getting fighting fit is that in the last 5 weeks I ended up eating gluten twice (oh the joys of cross contamination and bad food labelling) - so I'm feeling convalescent. I'll have to build up to a full load of exercise gently. Sliding scale for exercise (reflecting recovery from convalescence) week1) 40% of goal exercise = A week 2) 50 of goal exercise = A week 3) 2/3 of goal exercise = A weeks 4,5,6) I get a C grade for doing 1/2 of the exercise listed here, a B for 2/3 and an A for anything over 3/4. 3) Life goals Yep, that is plural, I'm aiming for two - the first I've been good at since november, the second I've been avoiding for years...... 1) Play that bass - can't have the play job without practise. Specifics = practise for more than 30 minutes, it can be jazz, it can be classical, it can be extended technique, it just has to happen. Fail = playing less than 50% of the days, C= 50% of days, B = 2/3, A > 3/4, amazing = every day. 2) Write that paper..... Evil paper for naisty ex-boss. The work almost broke me, then last time I worked on the paper coincided with a bad break up which involved emergency services (such a soap opera!), so I have a few issues with managing to finish this work. But I have to do it. So, I promise as part of my challenge to work on the paper three times a week (usually wednesday, saturday and sunday), each of these sessions has to be a minimum of an hours work. An A grade = getting a draft of the paper to naisty ex-boss. A B-grade = working on it three times a week and getting it close to passing on to n-e-b. A C-grade = managing most of the working on it sessions. I want to set up a couple of get out of jail free cards: 1)If I get a gig this takes over from all other goals - including training the morning after - so if I have a rehearsal, then next morning is a rest morning, and I get a pass slip wrt missing evening training, but not paper writing - the paper writing then needs to transfer to another day. 2) Gluten - worst case scenario is that I eat gluten during the challenge....... if this happens I'll have to do a complete re-boot. Usually the best I can do is no exercise in week 1, 3 very easy sessions (a 10 min out door walk, or 30 min v light yoga) in week 2 and then increase from there - so if I gluten, then I can still get a c- to c grade for the challenge if i get back into some exercise from 7 days after gluten. Wowser, I am going to need a complicated reward chart for this lot. But I already do most of it when I'm healthy - just not the paper writing in the evenings........... Any account-a-buddies out there for paper writing?

When I grow up I want to be a monk - gotta kick butt at this challenge first. Big goal = get fighting fit What is fighting fit? 1) healthy I have coeliac disease (yippee!) so I have to completely avoid all gluten, this means a lot of food preparation and a lot of care when I eat food that I haven't prepared, and when I get it wrong (crosscontamination eating out - grrrrr), I'm ill for about a fortnight, then ropey for longer, so I absolutely must avoid all of the gluten. To help me do this I have a food goal of trying one new recipe a week. 2) Fit I will get do cross training to improve my fitness and my flexibiltiy and my strength The cross training is: i yoga twice a week ii Body weight training three times a week (currently in a slightly modified level 2 of the Academy BW, in the 6 weeks, get to level 4) iii Running for CV fitness (treadmill running on the same days as the BW training, and a longer outdoor run in the weekend) 3) Trained in martial arts i Kickboxing class is on a sunday (I'm a 2nd Dan in kickboxing/sport karate) ii Jujitsu classes are tuesday and thursday (hopefully there will be a grading in the next 6 weeks - if there is then my jujitsu goal is to pass my grading from orange to green belt) I will get to these classes and ideally have one or two consolidation sessions each week at home. Complicating getting fighting fit is that 3 weeks ago I ate out, and there was some gluten somewhere in the food (they sounded so much like they knew what they were doing) - so I'm still recovering from the gluten. I'm back to yoga, kickboxing and jujitsu, but my gym workouts and running haven't happened for three weeks - I'll have to build these back in a little gently. I get a C grade for doing 1/2 of the exercise listed here, a B for 2/3 and an A for anything over 3/4. Life goals Yep, that is plural, i'm sneaking a second one in..... 1) Play that bass - my day job is in science, my play job is music, can't have the play job without practise. Fail = playing less than 50% of the days, C= 50% of days, B = 2/3, A > 3/4, amazing = every day. 2) Write that paper..... Evil paper for naisty ex-boss. The work almost broke me, then last time I worked on the paper coincided with a bad break up which involved emergency services (such a soap opera!), so I have a few issues with managing to finish this work. But I have to do it. So, I promise as part of my challenge to work on the paper three times a week (wednesday, saturday and sunday), each of these sessions has to be a minimum of an hours work. An A grade = getting a draft of the paper to naisty ex-boss. A B-grade = working on it three times a week and getting it close to passing on to ne-b. A C-grade = managing most of the working on it sessions. If I get play job work (like the chance to play my bass outside my house), then this takes over from all other goals - including training the morning after - so if I have a rehearsal, then next morning is a rest morning, and I get a pass slip wrt missing evening training, but not paper writing - the paper writing then needs to transfer to another day. Wowser, this looks shockingly horrid. But I already do most of it - just not the paper writing in the evenings........... Any account-a-buddies out there for paper writing?

[Nim-aera] The Paper Bag Comes Off....And The Battle Armour Goes On. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oh my, where to begin? You can call me Nim, and I'm 22 years old from Perth, Australia. Im almost a Forensic Technician. I have just over a year left from my 7 year course! I've suffered with depression since I was a child, and when I was 19, I was diagnosed with Bipolar II Disorder. In search for a medication that would help me become more stable during the manias and depressive episodes, I gained about 25+ kg. I'd struggled alot with my body image before that, and I decided that being mentally stable was more important than being thin. Even so, the weight gain made me miserable and I had no self esteem. Im since off medication, and trying to find a more natural way to deal with my bipolar. Each day is a challenge in itself, and often I find myself in awful moods and I dont like the way it makes me treat those around me that I love dearly. I also want to stop feeling helpless all the time. I also have coeliac disease, and follow a strict gluten free diet. Eating gluten makes me very sick and its not pleasant at all. I've lost about 10kg since through diet and exercise, mostly cardio and yoga. Im still not happy with my weight, and Im not comfortable being in my body at all. I hope this 6 week challenge will put me on the path of being happier, healthier and feeling good about myself. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Current Stats Height: 159cm Weight: 77.8kg Waist: 78.5cm Hips: 102cm Bust: 102cm Body Fat: 37.4% Body Muscle: (33.3% Main Quest The hot wind blew red grains of sand over my boots and I stared at it for a moment, watching the granules dance with each other over the leather. They seemed to meet and embrace for a second, only to flutter away again, letting the wind move them freely without fear or hesitation. Before me loomed a dark cave, and if I turned my ear slightly to the left and closed my eyes other sounds rose above the howl of the air. I could hear the slow, even breathing of a great creature, a monstrous creature. A creature so fearsome and powerful that it made my hands shake slightly and my chest rise and fall rapidly with impatience and hesitance. I knew the only way to become who I was meant to be, to finally achieve my destiny, my greatness, was to face that creature in the cave. I turned swiftly on my heels and walked away with haste, my paper dress crackling like fire as I moved swiftly over the red plain. I wasn't ready, not yet. I would come back soon, in 6 weeks, and see if the challenges I had lying ahead could turn me into the warrior I needed to be. The kind of warrior who didn't shake when standing before her destiny. The paper bag was coming off, and the battle armour was going on. I have already completed my first 6 week challenge (see here), and ready to attack my second. Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed. GK Chesterson Goal One: The Strength of A Raging Fire I know to defeat my dragons, to earn my armour, I will need to be strong. I will need to be light on my feel like a pebble skipping over a pond. I will need to be tall and unwavering in the face of danger. I will need to work harder than I have ever in my life, and to welcome every scar as a reminder that it is taking me to who I am to be. To do this, I will need to train. I am fortunate that other warriors will be there to aid me, to train with me, as they have their own dragons to slay. I will endeavour to work out at least 3 times a week by myself, these on a Monday, Friday and Saturday. (or with someone else if they'd like to join me) I also have a planned group workout session on Wednesday (The playground workout) once a week with friends, Radact, Rachy87 and Brentos. On the alternative days, I would like to incorporate yoga. A 30-60 minute session that will help me to stretch and flex. Its important to keep nimble when slaying dragons, they may be large but they can move fast if they need to. Monday - Run Tuesdays - Yoga Wednesdays - Playground workout Thursdays - Yoga Fridays - Run Saturdays - Workout Sundays - Yoga Grading: A - Attended a least 95% of all sessions. B - Attended a least 80% of all sessions. C - Attended a least 70% of all sessions. D - Attended a least 60% of all sessions. F - Attended a least 50% of all sessions. Goal Two: The Monsters Are Inside Of Us "Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King To defeat my dragons, I must be of sound mind, of pure heart. I must have faith in myself, in my capabilities. I have my own demons that I struggle with daily, and every now and again they become very difficult to deal with, and I feel like throwing the towel in. For background reference if you don't know me from the first challenge, I have Bipolar disorder. My mind is in chaos most of the time. Im trying to change that, slowly Im making a better way for myself. I want to do this not only for me, but for the amazing man I have in my life whom I am trying to be a better person for. I know it must pain him to see me sometimes, and not know how to fix the solution-less problems I am facing. I want to get to a point in my life where each day is not a struggle, but a joy. To do this, I need to clear my head. Im adding daily mediation of 15 mintues to my goals, as well as keeping a journal to help me control and maintain my thoughts, and to write down at least one positive thing a day, even something little. Even the smallest flowers start as seeds. Grading: A - Write most every day, mediate most every day. (95%) *ie 6/7 days B - Write every other day, mediate every other day. (80%) *ie 5/7 days C - Write a few times a week, mediate a few times a week. (70%) *ie 4/7 days D - Write a few times a week, mediate a few times a week. (60%) *ie 3/7 days F - Write every week, mediate every week. (50%) *ie 2/7 days Goal Three: You Only Get What You Give To defeat my dragons, a diet will need to be accorded to ensure I am giving my body the strength and power it needs to fight. I'll be giving up soft drinks all together, and all junk food. If I didn't make it myself/couldn't have made it myself, I wont be eating it. An example is that at uni they sell sushi, and I'll allow myself to buy some if theres no other option such as I didn't have time to make my lunch. It will be considered a last resort though and attribute to a lower grade. I also want to consume more water each day. Grading: A - Made all lunches, didn't consume any soft drinks. Drank 1L a day B - Consumed 1 soft drink, brought lunch once. Drank 1L a day C - Consumed 2 soft drinks, brought lunch more than 3 times. Drank >1L a day D - Consumed 3 soft drinks, brought lunch more than 4 times. Drank >500mL a day F - Consumed 5+ soft drinks, brought lunch once a week. Drank >500mL a day LIFE QUEST Attend all days at university, despite my mood that morning. I will not allow my bipolar to become an excuse. Quite often I have allowed myself to lie in bed and not get out simply because I couldn't physically force myself to. Im aware that completing this challenge is going to be the hardest one of all, as I cannot predict how I will feel each day. I know I have the support and love of 2 IRL friends also doing the challenge, and also my boyfriend, also participating in the challenge as Radact. I just have to learn to ask for help when I need it. I will also have a positive jar. Im going to write down one positive thing a day and stick it in that jar. When I am feeling less than spectacular, I will take a piece from the jar, and think it over, write a poem or a song or a sonnet or carve it into wood or anything that will force me to change my perspective and bitter thinking. I will also be sharing them with all of you. Grading: A - Attend all days at uni B - Attend all days at uni - one class missed. C - Attend all days at uni - two classes missed D - Attend all days at uni - three classes missed F - Attend all days at uni - missed four or more classes. I am hoping all these goals will enable me to lose weight, become more toned (jiggle jiggle), and to find an inner peace within myself, and allow me to control my emotions.