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Welcome! After a long rest following my journey of stumbling blindly through the Hanging Edge, and restoring my HP during the last challenge, it's time for me to negotiate the Pulse Vestige. I know what's waiting at the end - A GREAT BIG BOSS BATTLE, Fal'cie Anima. So I'd better be ready. That's what this challenge is about - taking on one enemy at a time, refining my paradigms, and stocking up on supplies. Would you just look at the size of the place. That's a whole lot of cie'th to take down. Since I'm not long out of the tutorial level, I'll need to remember to keep healing paradigms to hand, and keep my HP in the green zone. Can't afford to be taking too many risks yet, not until I've built my skills up. I've strategised that for my battle with Anima, I'm going to need a vial of Fortisol. That's my reward for acing this challenge. I need grades of B or above in all challenges to achieve this. If I want to level up, I need that reward! I can fight without it, but there's a good chance I'll get KO'd... probably multiple times. So, here goes - one cie'th at a time. 1. SCORE 1450 HIT POINTS PER CIE'TH Every day is a cie'th battle, and there's 42 cie'th between where I am, and the giant door at the heart of the Vestige, where Anima is waiting to try and kill me. Every cie'th has 1450HP (for the purposes of this challenge, they do). Every calorie I eat in battle knocks 1HP from one of these shambling monsters. In other words, giving a little creative licence, I need to knock back around 1450 calories per day to defeat these 42 cie'th. There are a few I can sneak past, but they're few and far between. I'm doing this on a points scoring system, averaging over the week (updated 8 April 2015 from daily to weekly hit points): < 1500 / day = 70 points1500 - 1600 / day = 42 points1600 - 1700 / day = 28 points1700 - 1800 / day = 14 points1800 - 1900 / day = 7 points1900+ or no tracking = 0 pointsTDEE ~ 1950 (this has served me well so far, over the past month). No negative marking, no eating back exercise. Total points available = 420 Grading: 301 - 420 points = A201 - 300 points = B101 - 200 points = C51 - 100 points = D1 - 50 points = E0 points = F CIE'TH DESTROYED: 100%0000FF; background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0 0, 100% 100%, color-stop(.25, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2)), color-stop(.25, transparent), color-stop(.5, transparent), color-stop(.5, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2)), color-stop(.75, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2)), color-stop(.75, transparent), to(transparent) ); background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient( -45deg, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2) 25%, transparent 25%, transparent 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2) 75%, transparent 75%, transparent ); background-image: -moz-linear-gradient( -45deg, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2) 25%, transparent 25%, transparent 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2) 75%, transparent 75%, transparent ); background-image: -ms-linear-gradient( -45deg, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2) 25%, transparent 25%, transparent 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2) 75%, transparent 75%, transparent ); background-image: -o-linear-gradient( -45deg, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2) 25%, transparent 25%, transparent 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2) 75%, transparent 75%, transparent ); -webkit-background-size: 23px 23px; -moz-background-size: 23px 23px; background-size: 23px 23px; border-radius: 4px;">100% 2. COOK ALL THE FOODS How do you turn a Blazefire Saber into an Ultima Weapon? By using gil and items found in the environment, of course! So, following on the back of my monumental success with the cooking of the things during the last challenge, I am going to apply my experience of using gil and items found in the environment to make new weapons. And by weapons, I mean meals. During this challenge, meals are my primary weapon, and I intend to make sure they're crafted well. Every week, I will be learning 3 new recipes (averaged over whole challenge) - it doesn't matter what they are, just that I am COOKING THE FOODS instead of buying a ready-to-fight weapon out of a box. Nothing beats being able to do your own craftsmanship. Over the 6 weeks, that's 18 new recipes. Here's the scoring: 16 - 18 recipes = A13 - 15 recipes = B10-12 recipes = C7 - 9 recipes = D4 - 6 recipes = E0 - 3 recipes = F Spicy grilled lamb skewers! [COMPLETED]Spice-crusted chicken with Asian slaw! [COMPLETED] Chicken skewers with satay dip! [COMPLETED] Mustard-stuffed chicken! [COMPLETED] Balsamic green bean salad! [COMPLETED] Easy paleo chicken pepper stir fry! [COMPLETED] Teriyaki glazed chicken kebabs! [COMPLETED] Paleo maple salmon fillets! [COMPLETED] Avocado stuffed burgers! [COMPLETED] Thai spiced turkey burgers! Asian salmon with honey glaze! Coconut ginger shrimp! [COMPLETED] Coconut chicken strips! [COMPLETED] Ginger chicken! [COMPLETED] Crisp honey mustard parsnips! [COMPLETED 19/4/15 - DAY 7] BBQ pulled pork! Easy Thai prawn curry! [COMPLETED] Clementine & vodka-baked salmon with beetroot creme fraiche sauce! WEAPONS CRAFTED: 77.8%FF3300; background-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, 0 0, 100% 100%, color-stop(.25, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2)), color-stop(.25, transparent), color-stop(.5, transparent), color-stop(.5, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2)), color-stop(.75, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2)), color-stop(.75, transparent), to(transparent) ); background-image: -webkit-linear-gradient( -45deg, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2) 25%, transparent 25%, transparent 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2) 75%, transparent 75%, transparent ); background-image: -moz-linear-gradient( -45deg, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2) 25%, transparent 25%, transparent 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2) 75%, transparent 75%, transparent ); background-image: -ms-linear-gradient( -45deg, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2) 25%, transparent 25%, transparent 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2) 75%, transparent 75%, transparent ); background-image: -o-linear-gradient( -45deg, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2) 25%, transparent 25%, transparent 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2) 50%, rgba(0, 0, 0, .2) 75%, transparent 75%, transparent ); -webkit-background-size: 23px 23px; -moz-background-size: 23px 23px; background-size: 23px 23px; border-radius: 4px;">77.8% 3. READ THE DATALOG - BOSS BATTLE PREP! If there's anything I've learned about life on Cocoon, it's that it's full of history and myth. I refuse to blindly stagger about the place knowing nothing about what's going on inside my enemy's head, because I have THE BIG BOSS BATTLE approaching on the 2nd June - my end of year maths exam. This is my degree-related Fal'cie Anima. I'm more than on track for a distinction on the coursework, but I need over 85% in the exam to get an overall distinction. This would open up so many more areas of the map, and additional add ons for me to explore later, like further study and paid placements... and being able to use maths in my battle against not knowing enough about computer science (duh). So, I need to be reading the datalog! This means very, very regular maths study. I want a minimum of 2hrs/day, and this is averaged over the entire challenge. This does NOT include any time I spend working on my remaining assignments - it's exam prep only. Grading:71+ hours = A57 - 70 hours = B43 - 56 hours = C29 - 42 hours = D15 - 28 hours = E0 - 14 hours = FDATALOGS STUDIED: 6%6% POINTS! MEASUREMENTS! ALL THAT STUFF! New and improved points and measurements photo gallery, with pictures of food! Edit! Again! Added progress photos (15 April 2015) Excuse the terrible quality photos. Best camera phone on the market and I still can't take decent selfies in a mirror. Eh well. It's something to measure myself by all the same! 1. SCORE 1450 HIT POINTS PER CIE'TH A = +5 CONB = +4 CONC = +3 COND = +2 CONE = +1 CONF = +0 CON2. COOK ALL THE FOODS A = +5 CHAB = +4 CHAC = +3 CHAD = +2 CHAE = +1 CHAF = +0 CHA3. READ THE DATALOG - BOSS BATTLE PREP! A = +5 WISB = +4 WISC = +3 WISD = +2 WISE = +1 WISF = +0 WISMeasurements to be updated at the start of the challenge: Starting measurements etc from 13 April 2015 Weight: 189.0Scale Bf%: 45.2DoD Bf%: 38.3Scale H2O%: 39.7Lean mass: 102Chest (upper): 40Chest (lower): 34Waist: 35.5Hips: 41.5Neck: 14.5Right upper arm: 13.5Left upper arm: 13Right lower arm: 10.5Left lower arm: 10.5Right thigh: 28.5Left thigh: 28.5Right calf: 17.5Left calf: 18OFF I GO TO GET FORTISOL!

I am excited for my third challenge, my first with the assassins! Since I just celebrated my 51st birthday during the off week, this challenge will be an assortment of birthday gifts for me. Main Quest: What I want for my birthday is to be a strong, agile, well-fed, financially secure assassin! Quest 1: Strength, endurance, flexibility – important assassin qualities. This means getting my sweat on! Recruit workout 3x/week Walk 3x/week for 36 minutes Yoga 3x/week A = 5 weeks successfully completed (+3 STR, +3 STA, +3 DEX) B = 4 weeks successfully completed (+2 STR, +2 STA, +2 DEX) C = 3 or fewer weeks successfully completed (No stats) Quest 2: To be at peak performance, an assassin needs to be well-nourished. Cooking meals at home really slipped for me during my previous challenge because I was often just too tired. Having backed off a bit on the amount I’m exercising, I hope to have more energy to devote to planning and cooking meals. It’s better for my physical and financial health. A = Cook dinner at least 3x/week for 5 weeks (+3 CON) B = Cook dinner at least 2x/week for 4 weeks (+2 CON) C= Cook dinner less than 2x/week for 3 weeks (No stats) Quest 3: Successful assassins have good awareness of their environment and the resources available to them at any given time. Keeping track of my income and expenses is something I struggle with, but clarity about my finances is important to achieving financial stability. I plan to devote at least 5 minutes daily to entering my income and expenses into Quicken so that I always know where my money is. A = At least 5 minutes/day, 6x/week for 5 weeks (+2 WIS) B = At least 5 minutes/day, 5x/week for 4 weeks (+2 WIS) C = Less than 4x/week for 3 weeks (No stats) Life Quest: Assassins like to explore their surroundings. I have been cocooning at home for the past few months, a necessary, if temporary, state. But now it’s time to start getting out into the world again and making the most of the rest of my year in Texas. I want to get out and interact with places in Austin I haven’t yet been since we moved here last fall, at least 4 times during the challenge. Pass/Fail, (+1 CHA for being adventurous and possibly meeting new people) Motivation: My life has been small and safe for the past few months and I really needed that time for healing and integration of what went before. But now it’s time to start participating more fully in life again and doing more of the things that make life fun. Being more physically and financially fit will help me have more fun.

I wasn't sure I was going to participate this time, but then an email inspired a theme and a purpose for the next 6 weeks ..... fixing a bunch of bad habits that have stalled my weight loss efforts!!!! As I skimmed this article from Fitocracy, I realized that I'm guilty on 5 of the 6 counts. If I want to succeed, I need to fix a bunch of mistakes and stop setting myself up for failure!!! Thankfully, I am usually a good shopper with only a weakness for the deli counter, but the others ..... I have my work cut out for me. So, this challenge will be a bit different for me. And newbies be warned - I'm breaking a number of the guidelines for RP challenges. So don't use me as an example. I'll be setting goals that primarily will increase wisdom and constitution. But, since 80% of success happens in the kitchen (and the grocery store), I think this challenge will set me up for success in the future. So, watch this space for details ..... I'll be editing it through the weekend to make measurable goals that help me fix my mistakes and use lots of exclamation marks!!! Mistake #1 - Eating out/Take out The good news is that I have historical data on how frequently I eat out or grab take out. The bad news is that ...... out of 42 days in the challenge, I ate out or grabbed "healthy" foods from the deli ....... get ready for it ..... 37 days!!! 88% of my challenge days involved buying prepared foods, most of which I can prepare easily at home. FIX #1: Stop eating out so much, DUH!! (2 WIS, 1 CON) To be reasonable and yet make progress, I'm going to reduce the number of days in which I eat out or grab something from the deli .... Scoring based on days that I mess up: 4 days: A 8 days: B 12 days: C 16 days: D 20+ days: F Mistake #2 - Snacking This isn't SUCH a big problem for me as eating out is ... or so I thought, until I went back through my data. YIKES!!!! 34 days out of 42 had a snack, and often NOT something light. FIX #2 - Reduce unplanned snacking (2 WIS, 1 CON) I am going to plan for truly healthy snacks, especially for after hard workouts. And I will aim at reducing the number of days when I give up and eat something just because I am bored, because hubby is having a snack, or because I didn't plan ahead and eat properly at the prior meal. Scoring based on days that I mess up: 4 days: A 8 days: B 12 days: C 16 days: D 20+ days: F Mistake #3 - Not planning for splurges In fact, I have not been planning meals at all!! Breakfast (eggs) is on autolock, but the rest of the day has been done by last-minute inspiration. At the end of the day, when I enter in what I've eaten, I might be pleasantly surprised ..... or completely shocked. Logging is a good first step, but planning needs to be a close second. FIX #3 - PLAN!!!! (3 WIS) I'm usually a big planner, but a lot of things have been up in the air for the past two years, and I just stopped planning meals. In part, because when I'm home alone, it doesn't seem like I NEED to plan meals. Not like when I had a family, and we needed to know what we were eating so it could be accomplished before dashing off to the evening activities. So, time to stop moping about the empty nest and a hubby who lives a couple hours away. I'm going to sit down this weekend and create interchangeable menus on index cards. That way, I can have some variety within limits. And I'll be better about cooking (see fix #1) and freezing the extras. I have the big freezer plugged in downstairs and can just call this "cooking ahead". To keep accountable, I'm entering the weekly plan into LoseIt. And I'll post pics here!!! So, watch for food porn. I AM a pretty good cook. Scoring based on SUCCESS days: A: 38 B: 34 C: 29 D: 25 F: 21 or fewer Mistake #4 - Food as medicine As an athlete, I was just interested in food to support my activity level and provide the needed macros. I've fallen a long way from that stance since 2005 and now routinely use food and wine to make me feel better, to reduce boredom, as part of socialization, and as celebration. The problem is that .... it doesn't work. And often, I not only feel worse physically but also then beat myself up emotionally. But I keep falling back into those patterns, in part because hubby encourages them. Fix #4 - Food as fuel (2 WIS, 1 CON) Measuring the mental shift might be a bit of a challenge, but I'm going to try this strategy: Identify 20 triggers or situations where food becomes more than food Construct 20 alternatives - one per trigger - that can be played to combat the problem situationScoring: A: 20 B: 18 C:16 D: 14 F: 12 or fewer Mistake #5 - Inconsistency in exercise Looking back over my logs, I see that I have episodes of high activity, burning 400+ calories in exercise. And then, I have days when I don't really do much other than a gentle 30 minute walk. To some extent, that's fine, and I am exercising most days. But it also means that it is hard to plan meals when I don't know how much I'll be burning, and I've often eating as if I were going to have a big workout day ..... but then end up on the couch and stockpiling that extra calorie intake as fat. Fix #5 - Plan workouts and even out calorie expenditures (1 WIS, 2 STA) Well, the theme of the challenge is planning and consistency, I think. It's OK if I don't workout every day, but it is essential that I PLAN for rest days instead of letting them just happen. So, the aim is to plan my work and work my plan. At the beginning of the week, I'll sketch out planned activities as well as meals. That means that I ADJUST meal plan for the planned rest day(s), if necessary. I've been fighting a bit of a sore hip and knee, which means that I may end up adjusting workouts to prevent injury. Scoring based on days that I mess up: 4 days: A 8 days: B 12 days: C 16 days: D 20+ days: F Attribute points ..... A 100% B 90% C 80% D 70% F 50% for trying ..... PLUS MINIs!!!! Week 1: +1 STA Week 2: Week 3: Nada Week 4:

Why the title? Well tomorrow is my 29th birthday. Which is very close to 30. And while I don't have a problem with getting old as such, I always feel like I've accomplished too little and that I still have the same issues as when I was 20, especially relating to body image. I think it's really about time I'll squash those issues so that my 30's can be even more awesome than my 20’s. I don't want to feel weak. I want to keep a consistent level of basic fitness that allows me to try anything I want without being hindered by or worry about lacking fitness. I don't want to feel fat. My eating habits keep roller coasting from really good to really bad and while some natural weight fluctuations are ok, I don’t want the really bad in my life. I want to feel accomplished and I’ve decided on a big epic quest to tackle - to reach contortionist level of bendiness. Why? Besides the obvious that I love circus and contortion, if I ever reach this goal it will be purely because I put in hours and hours of hard work and honestly that’s not something I often do. Things either come to me easily or I give up straight away. It's time to change this and what better way than an utterly ridiculous quest? Goal #1: Contortion Practice contortion 5x/week. This can be either backbends or handstands. Since my hamstring is cranky I'm going to do an experiment where I won't do any freestanding handstands but instead focus on body line drills, wall work and core strength and see what happens after six weeks. Goal #2: Rehab my hamstring Doesn't need further explanation, I just have to do whatever my physio, every day. Goal #3a: Basic fitness 3a) Pull-ups Last challenge I managed to get back to 1 crappy neutral grip pull-up (for the second time). I'd like to up the number to 5 pretty ones. I'm thinking of using a combination of the twentypullups program and Ido Portal's hanging challenge, unless someone has a better program for me? 3b) Run 5 km I know, I know. Running. The thing is that even though I hate running, I still think that every able-bodied person should be able to run 5 km without it being a big deal. And my stamina is terrible, which I'm sure also affects my other activities to some degree. I'm going to aim to run 2-3x/week, but I'm not going to follow a program because I hate it when they tell me when to run. Life quest: Level up my cooking As a birthday present to myself I have binge ordered a whole pile of cookbooks in order to level up my cooking skills. Two recipe books, one technique book for savoury dishes, one for pastry and one inspirational book. Umm, shipping per book was cheaper this way? Cook 25 savoury recipes from the recipe books Cook no more than one sweet thing per week Tackle something technical once a week Make everything from scratch Side quest from last challenge: Add more everyday movement I also ordered Katy Bowman's book Move your DNA and I'm sure I'll get more inspiration from that. For now I just want to keep up with some habits that I started: Walk (or run) 250 km Avoid sitting for more than 50% of the work day Loo push-ups at work 2x/week Loo pistols at work 2x/week So yeah, before you say anything I did try to restrain myself when writing this challenge. The first two goals are the most important though, so I'll focus on those and hope I'll be able to do everything else as well. Here's to a fresh challenge!

Hello fellow nerd fitness members! It's me again, off to be an adventurer and tackle the world. Much to the dismay of some of my fellows, I've disappeared for a few days because, alas, my medication got out of whack and I got a very rude reminder that taking care of myself is paramount to being a healthy person. So! This has actually colored how I'm going to tackle this challenge. This six week challenge is a little more like a three week challenge, since I disappeared into the ether and kept some people guessing. So, given the nature of this challenge and its suuuuuper short duration, I'm here to give you all the run down as to what is going to happen. GOALS: Lifestyle goal: Take all of my medications and vitamins on time and as prescribed: this is super hard for me. I'm one of those people who decides, when medicine doesn't seem to be effective, I don't take it anymore. This is an ENORMOUS PROBLEM when you have a chronic illness. You don't realize it at the time, but you can send yourself into a tailspin where you take months to climb back to a reasonable place. Basically, it sucks. And it's actually super hard to keep up with your medication because, sometimes, it feels like shit and it gets you super disheartened. So! My goal is to take my medication as prescribed every day. This is an all or nothing goal. NOTES: this goal is Pass/Fail daily. When I pass this goal for the day, I am getting stickers. I take medication 3 times daily, so there is the potential for three stickers per day. +2 constitution for completion Fitness goal: Find a yoga class and go to it: Okay, so! When I was in the hospital it was recommended that I find some healthy way to deal with my stressors and recenter myself. It was suggested that I try doing yoga, because it would improve some of my mobility issues (damn you, hips! Getting in the way of my ability to do deep squats!) and it helps someone practice good breathing techniques. NOTES: I want to try to go to a yoga class twice a week. It doesn't have to be the same class, but it does have to be a yoga class twice a week. Wins are calculated ones a week +1 dexterity, +1 stamina for completion A TOTAL WIN: 5 stickers per week: 2 yoga classes / 3 days independent stretching A TECHNICAL WIN: 3 stickers: 2 yoga classes A SORTA WIN: 2 stickers: 1 yoga class/2 days independent stretching WELL, YOU TRIED: 1 sticker: 3 days of independent stretching, no yoga. *caveat: If I can't find time to do a yoga class one week, it can be substituted with one thirty minute yoga session from Youtube or some other online provider. A busy schedule should not deter me from having fun doing yoga. Lifestyle goal: Make 3 meals at home per week: I'm going to be at home a lot for the next few weeks for medical crap. It'll not only help me save money, but it will help me track the things that go into my body and what will help me get back on my A-game. Basically, this is a life skill that I need to learn because I'm not doing a super good job of taking care of myself in a responsible adult fashion. NOTES: This is going to be a fun goal, because it will give me the opportunity to be one of those people that gets to post pictures of food porn (delicious food pictures for the sake of giving other people the satisfaction of nummy looking food stuff) and posting a recipe for people to follow if it turns out delicious. Overall, I'm looking forward to this being one of the fun challenges I get to do. A TOTAL WIN: 5 stickers: 5 meals at home per week A TECHNICAL WIN: 3 stickers: 3 meals at home per week A SORTA WIN: 2 stickers: 2 meals at home per week WELL, YOU TRIED: 1 sticker: 1 meal at home per week +1 constitution +1 stamina upon completion Personal betterment goal: Keep up a journal every day: Journal keeping is super therapeutic and really helpful. At the end of the day, it's probably one of the best things you can do to vent and vent safely. It's going to be a one sticker a day goal, but every day I journal I get to be a little more in touch with my day. I have so many books to keep my thoughts and feelings in, so it's time I start filling those up. +2 wisdom upon completion BONUS GOAL: WRITE ONE RP POST ON NERD FITNESS PER DAY: I love writing. I love it like it is my sun and moon and birthday cake all rolled into one. I want to find a way to make sense of what I'm doing and write it in a fun way. This is just for fun, but it'll be a good prompt to get things going +1 charisma upon completion

Because not all Disney princesses are damsels in distress, and anyone who knows me can tell you that I am the exact opposite of a damsel in distress. Hi again! I’m blkhole24601, or Vicki if you want a real name to work with, a former Scout who is learning the graces of Assassinhood through dancing and maybe someday, gymnastics. My main motivation is because of my night job: I’m an actress in the Denver area and musical theatre is my first love, which is all well and good except I’m not exactly what you’d call graceful. Thus, my focus on dance! I’m also trying to pick up other physical skills (see: handstands, cartwheels, splits, etc.) that will make me more employable. Main Quest: Become a physically adept actress! Quest 1: Mulan - Let’s Get Down to Business [+2 STR +4 DEX +3 TBD] I know Mulan isn't technically a princess, but she's part of the official Disney Princess franchise so... This quest is honestly just a fancy way of saying, “I will exercise five times a week.†There is a regimen I want to incorporate into every workout that I do, and this is the easiest way to be sure that I not only find that routine but also continue to learn/perfect the skills I want to have under my belt by year’s end. So, said regimen: TMNT Mobility and Balance 5x/week [+2 DEX] Stronglifts 2x/week, free-for-all workout 3x/week [+2 STR, +3 TBD based on what I do] Jazz/ballet/tap classes don’t count. Not because I don’t think they’re a workout because I know they are, but because my focus is more on technique than a cardio session. Alternatively, other dance classes will count, and any at-home work on jazz/ballet/tap will also count. Tentative plan for the three other workouts will be yoga, running, and at-home dance work/U-Jam/Zumba, but again, NOT holding myself to this in case of Life. Splits/Flexibility Work 5x/week [+2 DEX] If a minimum of 30 minutes of yoga was completed as the main workout, it will also count towards this criterion. A = all 3 criteria met | B = 2 criteria met | C = 1 criteria met | D = for effort | F = zilch Quest 2: Ariel - Getting New Legs [+3 DEX] To continue my ultimate 2015 quest to quit moving like a graceless lummox at dance callbacks, I’m dedicating myself to 3x/week of dancing, with one of those days being at a jazz/ballet/tap class. Ideally I’d love for this to be twice a week but realistically schedules may not always work out that way. Zumba/U-Jam/anything that isn’t jazz or ballet or tap will not count towards having gone to class but will count towards the 3x/week. [3/6/2015 Adjustment: Weeks 5 and 6 will be excluded from the class requirement as long as I spend one dance session focused purely on technique.] A = 3x/week (A- =3x/week, no class) | B = 2x/week (B- = 2x/week, no class) | C = 1x/week, class | D = 1x/week, no class | F = zilch Quest 3: Tiana - Best Cook This Side of the Mississippi [+1 CON] Okay, so my meals will most definitely not hold a candle to Tiana’s, but I do miss cooking like something fierce. Therefore, I will cook once a week. I know it’s not a lot, but it’s all about starting small. I do hope that cooking more frequently than once a week will come naturally as I get into it more! A = 6 weeks complete| B = 5 weeks complete | C = 3-4 weeks complete | D = 1-2 meals cooked | F = never happened Life Quest: Giselle - Happy Working Song [+2 CHA] I don't care that she's not part of the official franchise, I love her and I love this movie. Part One: Sing 6x/week, just to solidify this as a habit. For a contingency should I not be able to sing for whatever reason (sick, voice needs a break, etc.), as long as I dedicate time towards studying musical theory, working on my audition pieces or The Mikado music (such as solfege work or plucking the notes out on my piano to get them in my head), or researching pieces for upcoming auditions, it will count. [+1 CHA] A = 6x/week | B = 5x/week | C = 3-4x/week | D = 1-2x/week | F = zilch Part Two: And now for a proper adulting requirement. I’m bad at keeping my apartment clean. I’m good at Netflix marathons. So, let’s combine the two! I will clean 5x/week for the length of an episode of whatever on Netflix. If I put in something that’s longer than 20-40 minutes, then I will only dedicate myself to cleaning for the first half hour or so. This should also, theoretically, help me declutter, too. [+1 CHA] [3/6/2015 Adjustment: 2 days a week starting in Week 3, as long as I do one chore in the house, it will count towards this quest. Chores mean putting away dishes, starting laundry, putting away laundry, taking out the trash, cleaning the litter box, etc.] A = 5x/week | B = 4x/week | C = 3x/week | D = 1-2x/week | F = zilch In Summary: 1. Workout 5x/week [+2 STR +4 DEX +3 TBD] 2. Dance 3x/week (Class 1x/week) [+3 DEX] 3. Cook 1x/week [+1 CON] 4. Sing 6x/week [+1 CHA] 5. Clean 5x/week [+1 CHA] (see why I basically HAD to go with a Disney princess theme???) Attribute Point Distribution: 2+ STR | 7+ DEX | - STA | 1 CON | 0 WIS | 2 CHA (3 points from Quest 1 to be distributed at the end of the challenge based upon what exercises I do. Tentatively +1 STA and +2 DEX) Weekly Recaps: Day 0 | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Challenge Complete! Mini-Challenges +1 STR earned +1 STA earned +1 CON earned +1 DEX earned +1 CHA earned +1 WIS earned

Not uninspired to workout, that bit is fine. Uninspired to neatly and creatively knit my goals for this challenge into a unifying theme or something clever. But, I do know what I want to do, and that's the important part, yes? Having a plan is goooood. So, the plan: 6 workouts/week Continuing this from last challenge. Pretty self-explanatory: 6 workouts for 5 of 6 weeks. One week of this challenge is vacation and I hardly expect myself to keep to my workout schedule while in a sunny, beachy environment full of margaritas. Pass/Fail Middle Splits/Straddle To progress in my aerial silks endeavors, I need to do something about my hip/hamstring/whatever flexibility and strength. Especially compared to my counterparts with dance pasts, I am laughably inflexible. My straddle width is improving, but I'm nowhere near where I think I ought to be. Long, straight legs = long, pretty lines in the air. Strength and flexibility needed for this one: Strengthen hip flexors by doing straddle leg lifts. Part of warmup prior to every silks session and leg workout. This will help with a future goal of L-sits as well, I think. I may look up some L-sit progressions and toss those in.Stretch (duh). Standing straddle, wall straddle, frog. I feel like I need more structure on this. *Flexy people, any input on this?I'll give myself a point for each session of straddle leg lifts and each stretching session. Goals: 2 leg lift sessions per week x 5 weeks = 10 leg lift sessions. 3 stretching sessions per week (seems low, but I'm being realistic here) x 5 weeks = 15 stretching sessions For a total of 25 total points available. I'll call 18/25 (72%) passing on this one. I'm horrible at this kind of stuff so I'm setting the bar admittedly low on purpose. Fuel the Machine (but don't overfill the tank) Still attempting to get a bit leaner for vacay, without going crazy and causing system collapse like I did last challenge. Calories = 1500/day average for 5/6 weeks (again, this constraint at an all-inclusive resort would just be cruel). Getting back to it once we get home will help mitigate post-vacation plumping (which was ridiculous last year). Pass/Fail Cooking My kitchen skillz are lacking. Usually I don't have the patience to fiddle around in the kitchen for long periods of time. Often, food becomes something prepackaged and easy to grab because I'm hungry NOW. This usually means extra carbs and lower protein. So, this is a macro-related goal as well, sort of. 1 point for each hand-prepared meal. (Toast doesn't count, heh. Neither does re-heating leftovers.) Recipes don't have to be new, or even prepared on the same day they are to be eaten. Batch cooking on the weekend = win. I really have no concept of where to set the pass/fail bar on this so we're going to go with a little more than 1/week. 7 meals over the 5 weeks of the challenge we'll be at home = pass. Else = fail. That should do it. There will of course be much chatter about silks and aerial. Probably videos as well. I haven't scheduled it, yet, but I expect my next private lesson will hit somewhere toward the end of this challenge.

Happy New Year Nerds! I'm so excited to be getting going with this challenge. I took a break from NF over the holidays because I hurt my back and I was just generally stressing out over too many things. But I didn't fall off the wagon tooooo hard and my back is all better and I had a lot of time to think about how I wanted to start off the new year. I'm honestly looking forward to this year more than any past years I can remember basically since I was in high school. After a year and a half I am finally starting to not be constantly depressed about my grandfather's death, I am much more financially stable than I have ever been in my adult life, and I got a new long term project at work that I am really excited about. Also things happening this year that will make this year even more awesome: 1) The boyfriend and I are going to Alaska in July 2) I'm going to Camp Nerd Fitness!!! Squeeeeeeeee 3) My roommates are moving out in February and the boyfriend and I will finally have our very own apartment for the first time ever! 4) We're getting a new cat! In the break I took over the holidays I had a lot of time to think, and I realized a few things about myself and my goals that I think will help make this a really successful year. Firstly, I am constantly getting frustrated with my cleaning goals because I feel like I never make any progress. I've come to the realization that our apartment is completely at capacity with 2 couples and a cat and A LOT OF STUFF. So I'm going to stop beating myself up about this situation, do my best to make sure everything doesn't go to hell, and once the roommates move out stick to a cleaning schedule I've been dying to do forever, but it will then be 100% under my control, instead of trying to do stuff and having it completely negated by other people's doings. I also realized I absolutely need a morning and evening routine. I feel so much better throughout the day when I didn't get up and rush out the door like a mad woman, and I imagine an evening routine will help me deal with my sleep issues. Finally, I realized that I've been saying I'm going to start Stronglifts for over 6 months now. It's freakin' time! I've been resisting because I have always absolutely hated gyms. But... I'm going to just do it. I've been wanting this for so long. So I will start with super super low KB weights (like I'm talking 5lb) and increase by 2.5lbs (because those are the fractional weights I have), and then once I hit 40lb I'll suck it up join a gym and start using barbells, at that point I'd be increasing by 2lbs each workout, as this is what the Stronglifts program reccommends for women. And, without further ado, my challenge: MISSIONS Grading on all 3 of these are pure percentage of completed out of possible, rounded to the nearest 0.5 point. 1. Routines Do my morning and evening routines 5x/week each minimum. Possible Stat Points: 5 CHA Morning MeditateJournaling (I've made my own that's basically a version of the Five Minute Journal tailored more for me. It includes an area for dream journaling and an area to write about my meditation experience that day, it actually seems like a fantastic idea and I highly recommend checking it out) Evening: No electronics the hour before I have to go to bedPick Out Clothes for the Next Day (I find this usually gives me so much stress in the AM)Sleep by 7 hours before I have to wake upJournaling 2. Morning Workouts Possible Stat Points: 5 DEX I will either run or do yoga in before meditating in the morning, 5x/week. I have a feeling I will probably lean towards yoga most of the time, but maybe I'll get ambitious. 3. Evening Workouts Possible Stat Points: 3 STR/2 STA Stronglifts 3x/week Foam Rolling 2x/week DIET CHALLENGE Cook More Food Possible Stat Points: 5 CON I need to go back to basics with this. I always struggle with my food, and in general I do eat healthy when I cook for myself but when I am with my family or eating out it's just basically an all cheese all the time show. Which is bad in so many ways. So instead of restricting myself from eating things, I am going to look at it in a different way. 4 dinners a week will be a home cooked meal! This includes leftovers and batch cooking, so if I just want to make one meal enough for 4 dinners that's fine too. Grading will be pure percentage of completed cooked meals out of a possible 24, rounded to the nearest 0.5 points. LIFE CHALLENGE No More Beer! All the Scotch Possible Stat Points: 5 CON So this method may sound a little nuts, but I've done it before and it works. I drink so many extra empty calories from beer. I drink beer on board game night with friends, I drink beer or wine when I come home from work to unwind, and all that adds up to a lot of carbs for no reason. I also do it a little mechanically, like oh I'm at my friends and everyone is having beer I'll have one too. I love drinking and relaxing, so I'm not saying I want to stop drinking completely, I don't see a need for that right now at all. What I'm going to do is restrict myself to only drinking scotch. I LOVE scotch. Like a lot. But, I am not going to pound back 4 of them just for the hell of it like beer. I can't drink scotch without drinking it slowly and with intent, and enjoying every sip. Plus one teeny glass packs the same punch as a whole beer with a lot less calories. And since scotch is on the pricier side I'll be much more likely not to drink it just because. I'll allow myself one beer every two weeks. This way if someone comes along with a ridiculously awesome new microbrew I'll never get to try again I can try it guilt free. This one will be graded by beers over the limit. For a 6 week challenge I'll be allowed 3 beers total. For every beer over this limit my grade will drop: 0 beers over: A (5 points) > 3 beers over: B (3 points) > 6 beers over: C (1 point) < 6 beers over: F (0 points) And that's that!

Bekah's 2015 Challenge #1 The backstory with these goals is here and here to save time and space. The short story is I am going to have 4 year long goals based on developing consistency in the things that are important to me in my everyday life. Then hopefully I will have a strong foundation to move forward and accomplish badassery on a much larger scale for 2016. I guess this makes for a rather boring challenge updating, but if you know me, you know that this is more like a diary of sorts than a challenge thread, so anything is bound to happen. Feel free to stick around for the ride 2015 Goals Wake-up time/Bedtime 251/365 (number of days to be done/days of the year) Morning Yoga 251/365 Cooking Dinner 275/365 ​Morning/Evening Routine 275/365 I will be keeping track of my challenge goals via my marker board in my bedroom and my mini planner in my purse and posting here (hopefully I will be consistent in that as well).

Hi. I'm Nymeria, and I'm accepting my path as one of the shiny object chasing, Jack-of-all-trades, do-all-of-the-fun-things types of assassins. I climb multiple times/week. I also love power yoga/handbalancing, martial arts, playground parkour, hooping, rings, and other random fitness stuff I also NEED my soundtracks to operate in life. Whether I'm exercising, cleaning, taking a relaxing bath, or whatever, I need music to get into my groove. It's at times been a bit of a hinderance to me, since I can't handle a lot of exercise videos or classes where I have to endure crappy music and a teacher yammering on and on. (yoga stuff and hooping at 4x and 2x speed, because it's kind of boring otherwise. All of the indoor clips were filmed in the last week, and the outdoor stuff was from the autumn. It feels great to get back into the groove of posting training videos!) 2014 was a really rough year for me, both personally and fitness-wise. Very late in 2013, I had a catastrophic fall while climbing, tore my ACL, MCL, and broke 2 bones in my knee. Then I had surgery and spent the better part of 2014 dealing with physical therapy and rehab. I'm ready for 2015 to be an injury-free year, so I can focus on being awesome and not on just regaining ground. For my part, the "Awesome mix" isn't making a great playlist (although I'm always open to music suggestions. I gravitate most toward progressive metal stuff). Instead, it's the formula of eating habits, exercise stuff, and daily routines that help me achieve the things I most want. In this challenge, I'll focus a lot more on eating habits, since they got a bit out of hand over the holiday season. I also have gained about 5 lbs of flab over the last few months, and I really need to lose it. Goal 1: Awesome eating for an awesome life (diet). I don't do tracking, so instead, I'm using a point system to encourage healthier choices and discourage destructive ones. Goal edited, to make things simpler. I eat 3 meals/day, so... +1 point for any meal that is filled with wholesome food, veggies, proteins, etc. and only a very modest/minimal portion of carbs/starches. +1 point for drinking only water or tea in a day +1 point for choosing healthy evening snacks, like carrots and hummus, celery+peanut butter, or other veggies in the evening. I will permit myself to have a modest snack in each day and a small portion of a sweetened drink (like 4 oz of orange juice or lemonade). I'll also permit myself to have a beer on football gamedays for no penalty. -1 point for anything beyond a modest snack -1 point for caloric drinks beyond what was set forth ^^^ -1 point for unhealthy meals. Goal: 21 points/week. If that becomes too easy by week 3, I'll increase the goal. Goal 2: Batch cooking (diet) For me, bad choices are often made because I either let myself become so hungry that I want to eat NOW, or because I'm just feeling too lazy to cook. The solution for me is to batch cook something healthy, so I have plenty of leftovers to reheat. Goal: 6 batch cooked meals during the challenge (nominally 1/week). Goal 3: Shore up some climbing weaknesses (fitness - climbing) - I'm pretty comfortable with my workout routine, but there are a few tweaks that should help me progress faster. My raw strength is great, but my muscular endurance is fairly poor. This is a huge problem with climbing, where I'll climb beautifully for 2/3 of the route, and then I'm out of gas for the end. To fix this, I'm going to do some high rep, low weight work with DB rows, bodyweight inverted rows, grip training (focus on hanging loooong periods of time on some very easy grips, rather than short holds on really small ones). Goal: 2 sessions/week of the endurance stuff. Goal 4: Keep things fresh and exciting (fitness - yoga) This is a 2 parter. The first I'm shamelessly stealing from starsapart. 1x per week, I'll try a new pose from the Yoga Journal advanced poses blog. I would hate for yoga to become stale for me. The second part is that I'm toying with the idea of becoming a certified yoga teacher at some point. The problem is that I'm 99% a home practitioner, largely because I enjoy playing my own music and because I'm afraid that most yoga classes would be kind of boring for me. But, I need to suck it up and at least try out some classes for informational purposes, if nothing else. Before the end of the challenge, I want to attend at least 4 formal yoga classes at my gym. Goal: 1 new yoga pose/week. 4 formal yoga sessions/challenge. Goal 5: The boring, dreaded cardio (fitness - general) This one is simple: 60 minutes of pure cardio action. Whether it's HIIT style, cycling, jogging, elliptical, I need to keep my heart rate up there. I generally find cardio to be boring, but getting back into some cardio action would help me lose some flab, improve my stamina, put the finishing touches on my knee rehab, and would probably be good for me. So, I just have to suck it up and do it. I'm not counting lower heart rate cardio stuff for this goal, so no credit for hooping, walking, etc. Goal: 60 minutes/week. Yeah, this challenge isn't necessarily going to be fun, but at the moment I'm filled with ambition and resolve. I'd rather push myself and come up short than just do another space filler, coasting type of challenge.

Murphy's Roommate, back again! Reloaded from a saved game, and I've got a mix of goals for this go around. Fitness - Gave myself a diagnostic today, 3 pullups, 20 pushups, unsuccessful bodyweight Tabata for squats. I was satisfied with my form, but not my numbers on any of the events. I was surprised to get 3 pullups - playing the game off and on before restoring my save seemed to have helped! Goals: 6 pullups, 40 pushups, successful Tabata squats with an end number of 8. Food - cook (or re-heat what I cooked) for over 50% of my meals. Bonus goal - post to the Victuals thread! That has me oddly excited to see what I can cook that others would be interested in. Continue walking the dog 2x a day. I am in Colorado Springs, so this is very much a willpower test when it is 5 a.m. and -15 outside. I have the clothes for it, it just isn't very fun. Entertainment - Participate in the Zombie Squad Winter Bugout Thread and "bugout" overnight. Post results to Zombie Squad thread and here. - Murphy's Roommate P.S. For all those who have been following, my backpack radio is finally good to go, and I'm still working on my General Class license.

Hi, everyone! We will be talking about good food, how to prepare it, how to buy it and how it fits with our fitness and nutrition goals. Also, how getting it in the house and onto the plate can be part of a real life schedule and not some three-day affair. Bring your questions and join the conversation.

Hey all, I'm Jason. And I know I'm a little late, haha So even though I just started a few days ago I want to go ahead and jump on this six four (now) week challenge. Thanks, nerdfitness, for providing a community of positive and ambitious people to share my dreams with. Main Quest: Explore Nerdfitness, build good habits for future challenges. Very general goal for my first one. Quest no. 1: - Complete 3 modules (Mindset, Nutrition, and Fitness) in Nerd Fitness Academy and start quests for all the different classes. Loot- Gym/Pool/Karate membership for next challenge Quest no. 2: - Join a cooking group on Nerdfitness. Focus on ONE recipe each week and make 3 times until comfortable. Then add the recipes to my Pinterest. Loot- Sharp knife set? Something to help my cooking as i do more Quest no. 3: - Write daily journal entries (for ~30 min) in Penzu, atleast 5x/week Loot- Buy SSAS or AOC or Lift coach Side Quest 1- Complete 2 lessons on Rocksmith or learn a new song on the guitar for an hour, 3x/week. Loot- Buy guitar lessons for next month Motivation - Make it a great one Bonus stats: - Week 1: +1 wis - Week 2: +1 cha - Week 3: +1 cha - Week 5: +1 wis

So I this will be my third challenge since returning to Nerd Fitness. I have learned a lot, met some awesome people (you know who you are), and all around have gotten back on track fitness wise. I have especially seen how much I have changed since the last time I used this site. While before I focused primarily on fitness goals, now they are such a big part of my life that it feels like cheating to include them as "goals". I have also learned a lot about what I need to focus on, so without further ado. Links to Quests Quest 1: Diet Quest 2: Maintenence Quest 3: Cardio Life Quest: Art, Writing, Word of the Day. Updates This section is all about updates, new goals, achievements, etc through the course of this challenge. Kind of like my epic side quests last time. So I will hopefully be joining a crossfit gym once I finish this round of YAYOG. Random Stuff... Side goals No games after 12PM (will be trying to push it back even farther)

Because butts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qmkn59N5SDg I need some cheering up, and skipped a challenge because I moved back to Hometown, in the Land of No Opportunities. Since butts soothe any kind of trouble, butt-challenge. At least I can control the butt-ness of my situation. Goals! 1: Learn to cook again. I'm back home and there is a kitchen and I need to learn to use it again and make something that is not an omelet, so I can grow into a stronger version of myself. To try one new meal per week is enough, really. I'll select recipes I'd want to make often (so very quick/lazy ones) 2: Do strength exercises. because butt. goal: 3/week, I'll do a workout routine. I found out about how glute brigdes are great fun, I'm still adding some other stuff I really like, like push ups. I'll be using fitocracy to track this/keep an eye on my efforts. 3: no more taking the laptop in bed. I'll start this goal by watching myself. why am I doing this? Step two: can I divert the path of least resistance so the thing does not end up in my bed? side goal: thanks to lilith's challenge, I felt inspired to put a ball of clay on my desk. it's slightly too big for my hands, so it's really helping with strength, plus it turns out to be oddly relaxing. Life goal: Do something to get a dance pole somewhere. I'm surprisingly depressed because I can't dance anymore. It's starting to feel like this time that I was really talented at something and was having tons of fun and becoming really strong was just some idiot dream I had :/ Classes are really expensive around here, there is no sports equipment stuff in the parks, our house is too small (I'm 1m77/ 5'10" and I'd spend so much time slamming my feet into cupboards and stuff), and I dread the garden, because winter + metal pole = frozen fingers D': I have no idea what to do, but something is going to get done, because this is ridiculous.

Well ok I'm not really taking a chill pill, I actually have loads of fun things planned!! I have class 3x/week (handstands, contortion and circus), open training on the lyra and I'm going to keep up with my bouldering. Since I can't predict how hard the classes will be each week I don't really feel it'd be a good idea to set any particular fitness goals. Instead I want to make sure my recovery is good, which means eating, drinking and chilling. I do have lots of fun skills to work on, so I'll keep posting about them in my challenge thread, but I won't grade any of it. There might be video though. Goal #1 - Cooking Last challenge I had a cooking goal where I wanted to try 5 new recipes/week, which failed spectacularly. I want to try this again, but on a slightly smaller scale. Also cakes don't count this time. Rather I want to make sure that I eat properly even when I get back late from training or work. To do that each week I will find one recipe that's suitable for batch cooking and one pre/post workout snack recipe. +2 WIS for batch cooking recipes (6 in total) +2 WIS for snack recipes (6 in total) Goal #2 - Recovery I not only need to eat, but I also need to make sure I get enough protein in me. I'm kind of hoping that by tracking my protein intake I will also keep my calories in check as I could really do with losing some of my excess weight... The second part of this goal is to drink enough water. Lately I've been getting random muscle cramps and the first thing to try is to make sure I stay hydrated. And not through tea, to which I confess I have a terrible addiction. I have no intention of stopping my excess tea drinking though, but I can at least make sure to drink 1 big glass water for every cup of tea. And coffee, but I drink max one espresso per day so that's less of a concern. +2 CON 100g protein/day +2 CON 1 glass of water/cup of tea (or coffee) Goal #3 - R & R This is a bit of a weird one, and it has more to do with habits that I find annoying. Like compulsive phone checking say checking my blog roll even if I have no intention of reading the articles at that time or playing on my laptop while watching a movie. It's just a waste of time and makes me feel all over the place. Similarly if I'm tired after work I should rest properly instead of distracting myself online, or by going on a sugar and/or caffeine high. For example watching a show is not really resting, but listening to music or taking a nap is. I also find just switching off doing nothing is a great way to relax, having some me-time and get the brain juices flowing. I'm not sure how to grade this as it's more of a general mindfulness goal but I'll give the following sub goals a subjective grade each day or something. +2 CON Rest properly +2 WIS No mindless browsing on the phone Goal #4 - Video Well I did say there might be video. I want to record some of the handbalancing exercises we do in class, partly as a progress video and partly to share some ideas with the fellow handbalancers around here. +3 CHA Yep, this is a quiet challenge, no shiny things, no fun theme, just trying to make sure I stay on track and keep up with life.

A little late but here goes... So tomorrow marks my 1 year NF anniversary. And while I wish I could say my life has drasitically improved or changed since then, it hasn't. This doesn't have anything to do with NF, it has to do with me and how I've been approaching this journey... my brain has certainly changed dramatically in the way that I look at the world and what I do with and put in my body. But somehow everything I've been working on just hasn't stuck. I've had bouts of sucess and bouts of failure over the year, but nothing really consistent. Going over my past challenges (excluding my most recent) I notice a trend of doing really well in the beginning, and falling off towards the end. Or doing well all the way through only to lose a lot of my progress during the zero weeks. Essentially, habits have not been formed as I had hoped. Basically I've been having some trouble getting through the every day stuff. Even after my vacation I came back and instead of feeling refreshed and jumping back into things I have kind of just been sitting around for 2 weeks and doing not much at all. So now I am switching everything up. Instead of assigning myself specific tasks, I am going to just make sure I do a few things every single day. I have gotten into the habit of meeting my goals on a weekly basis instead of a daily one. I'll cram in 3 different work outs in one day (morning, afternoon, evening) or do extra sets to make up for a missed work out. But, shockingly, my body doesn't respond well to that and I'm really just playing mind games with myself pretending I'm doing what I've asked myself to do. I've also been struggling with how to eat healthily. Mostly because the restrictions I've put on myself (which really do make my tummy feel awesome) my boyfriend has a hard time enjoying. Even if I make something that I think is delicious, he still wants pizza or cheese fries or something of that nature. And it's hard to have to try to stick to my guns and eat what I made and try to convince him to eat it too nearly every day. So I end up giving in a lot and we eat something terrible. So I'm going to back off on some of the restrictions I've had in place and see how I feel and will possibly work them back in at a later date, this is in the interest of cooking healthy things that hopefully the boyfriend will want to eat, and that we can enjoy together. I'll be not considering gluten a failure anymore, as long as it is in whole grain form. I will also not be so picky about dairy, since I have learned I can't not eat pizza, I just need to think more when I eat things that are "bad". If I don't think of it as bad it will hopefully be easier for me to eat a normal human amount instead of like 20 slices. More on this down in my food mission. So. I will do small things. Or big things. Or medium things. My choice depending on how I'm feeling as long as I do something from each category every day. Every day I will focus on myself and improve myself a little bit. Even if I'm exhausted and it's something super tiny, it's still something better than yesterday. Every Day Missions 1) Move. This can be running, yoga, strength work out, swimming, or going for a walk. Or even hopping onto my mini stepper for a bit if I'm super busy. Even stretching and foam rolling counts here if it's a rest day or I'm super sore or sick. Just do something every day. Especially if it's capoeira. 2) Meditate. I started using Headspace before I went away and continued to use it on vacation but I kind of lost track of it since. It's small little meditation sessions that build up over time in length and intensity (ie - become less and less guided) and eventually begin to branch out into different aspects of life that I can focus on. I absolutely love it, so I'm going to make a commitment and really start doing this every day again. 3) Make Healthy Choices. Try to avoid gluten, but when neccessary make sure it is whole grain. Also portion control is key. Don't over eat. I know when I've screwed up, if it's one thing I've gained over the year it's knowledge of what's good and what's bad to put into my body. Actually following through with this hasn't been super sucessfull but I do know. So this is kind of subjective but that's also kind of the point. I want an overall feeling of making healthy choices and really thinking about what I put into my body every day. I'm not too worried about the nitty gritty. 4) Improve My Space. Clean something, or organize something, or make something look a little nicer in my space every day. Even if it's tiny, even if it's just scooping the cat litter. If I'm not home for a day, this can be as simple as organizing my purse, throwing receipts out of my wallet or cleaning my hair brush. Just something. 5) Sleep. Get at least 7.5+ hours a day. This can be supplamented with naps in extenuating circumstances. No excuses. 6) Be accountable. I have tapatalk, I have access to it everywhere. I can get on here every day even if I'm not at a computer. Even if all I say is something like "Today: 1235" beecause I everything on this list except for number 4 sort of thing. It's not that hard. I can do it. This doesn't count towards grading but I'd really like to keep on top of it. Bonus Activities These will make sense once I get to the grading portion. 1) Brain Train. I don't expect to do this every day, but I do want to do it a few times a week. I have a free Luminosity account and also a brain exercise thing on my DS. So either one will work. (MAX 5 POINTS/WEEK) 2) Snake Love. Not sure if I've mentioned this before here but I own 4 snakes. I completely love them but sometimes I don't play with them as much as I probably should/want to. So once a week or so I'll try to take them out and handle them. (MAX 1 POINT/WEEK) 3) Pamper. Take a bath. Give myself a face mask. Get a manicure or a pedicure (or do it myself). Do something nice just for me. (MAX 1 POINT/WEEK) 4) Boyfriend Time. Do something romantic with the boyfriend. We have been living together for 3 years now so the romance is starting to be more like let's lay on the couch all night in our PJs and order in as opposed to going out for a nice dinner or see a movie. I feel the opportunities to be healthy are much better in going-out situations too. Plus I enjoy dressing up and looking/feeling nice. (MAX 1 POINT/EVERY 2 WEEKS) 5) Volunteer. I've been volunteering on occasion with HRC, if the opportunity arises during this challenge I want to volunteer more! (MAX 2 POINTS/CHALLENGE) 6) Duolingo. This is basically a free version of Rosetta Stone. I've been on and off using it for Spanish for about a year now. Hopefully I can find the time to work on this a bit. (MAX 5 POINTS/WEEK) Grading I will start off with 175 points. If I miss an every day task, I lose one point. If I do a bonus activity, I gain one point. But I can't get more than the max points per week from the bonus activities listed under each bonus activity (so I can't just take 20 baths in one week and get 20 points haha) At the end of the challenge I will grade myself based on my end total points. 175 is 35 (days left in the challenge) times 5 (number of daily tasks). So I can't actually get below 0. 210+ points: A (15 stat points) 190-209: B (11 stat points) 175-189: C (8 stat points) 125-174: D (5 stat points) 100-124: F (1 stat point) 0-99: F- (0 stat points) I will award myself the above number of stat points. Since my end grade isn't broken up into how well I did in each category, I will decide at the end what kind of stat points I get depending on what I feel I improved upon the most during this challenge. And I'm off!

Light. So bright. Why is it so damn bright with my eyes closed? Wait, my eyes won't open! Where am I? Think, think, think... A female form lay on a clean white hospital bed, dark hair splashed across sterile pillows. One finger moved, slowly, then another. Her hand clenched and relaxed, testing a movement it hadn't made in quite some time. "It's OK, Clementine. You're safe." What the hell? Who is that?? Where am I, why can't I talk? "Don't fret, the sedatives are wearing off. You should be able to open your eyes shortly." Clementine's eyes opened slowly, squinting at the brightness of the fluorescents on her long-covered retinas. She looked towards the source of the voice. A stern-looking young woman stood at her bedside, dressed professionally and sporting a seriously sharp bob haircut. Well at least I haven't lost my clearly razor sharp fashion sense, Clem thought to herself wryly. The woman looked at a tablet in her hand, before regarding Clementine. Her look wasn't without compassion, though it was barely visible under the layers of serious business on top of it. "Clementine Dana Bowden." Clem tried to speak, and had to cough several times before she could manage to croak out her words in a harsh voice. "Uh, yeah, whoever you are. I remember my own name. Where I am, not so much. Mind filling me in?" "Clearly your experience here hasn't affected your wit," the woman said, pulling an inscrutable face. She paused to give Clem a drink from a bag of liquid sitting on the dresser. "I'm Dr. Wynn. This is the Fall View Facility, a hospital and research lab for the Dawn Hunters." Wait, what? "Dawn...what the heck am I doing in a hospital for the freaking Dawn Hunters? I can barely pass the New Earth Corps standard fitness test..." Dr Wynn paused, that unreadable look still on her face, as if she was struggling to decide whether to laugh or scold Clem for her attitude. "Yes, I am aware of your previous capacities. Rather a lot has changed in the past two months, and I am hesitant to risk overwhelming you with all the details." "I'm not going anywhere fast. What, was I in some kind of accident? Dawn Hunter run me over with an offworld roller and now you guys have to foot the bill?" "You were in an accident, yes, but not of the kind you posit. The accident was very serious, you've blocked it from your memory and rightly so, for now. I don't want to put your psyche at risk by presenting any possible triggers just yet, suffice to say that your injuries were extensive. Based on your history and application to New Earth Corps, you were selected to be put in my care. Clementine, you are not exactly the woman you used to be - I have no other way to tell you this but to show you." Dr Wynn tapped briefly on her tablet before holding it in Clem's view. It took her a moment for her eyes to adjust, and figure out what she was seeing. Is..is that ME? It was a picture of her lying much as she was now, clothed in undergarments. Her arms and legs...they were metal. They had Made her, rebuilt her into a cyborg. Of all the craziest things... Cyborgs weren't uncommon, of course, especially now with the level of technology available to New Earth Corps. It was, Clem knew, an exceedingly expensive set of dangerous procedures to undertake, and was never done lightly - or even voluntarily. She must have not only been in terrible shape, but the Dawn Hunters must have really wanted her. Why? What could they want with me? "You have a face that can be read like a book, Ms. Bowden. Don't worry, we can train that out of you. Once you gain full control of your new limbs you'll be moved to the Dawn Hunter's training grounds to learn the basics. After that, we'll introduce you to your new team and you'll start off-world tasks within six weeks." As Dr. Wynn talked, Clem concentrated on the hand she moved earlier - her right hand. With some effort, she bent her arm at the elbow and brought her "new limb" into view. Unlike the picture, it wasn't metal at all. It was pale skin, perfect in it's detail right down to the barely visible blue veins and short fingernails. More weirdly, it was flawless. All her old scars and freckles, her misshapen knuckle from when she broke her finger, all gone. So weird. "I hope it won't take you overly long to adjust to this. We're undermanned as it is, and the faster you can integrate the better. You'll have all the support you require, both physical and mental, so don't hesitate to call on the resources available to you. A final formality, we don't use real names in the Dawn Hunters for many reasons. Your new codename is Cledbo - I hope that's easy enough for you to remember." "Shouldn't be a problem, Doc." Cledbo, yeah thanks Doc. Real original. THEME MUSIC Cledbo Joins the Dawn Hunters A newly Made cyborg, Cledbo is selected to join the Dawn Hunters, an elite unit who search for new habitable planets for Humanity to colonise. She will train body and mind under specialist instructors before joining a team and going on her first off-world mission. Main Quest Build a resilient, flexible, and strong body that can do a few neat tricks as well as weather the hardships of Army work, pregnancy and motherhood. (And become a Dawn Hunter, obviously ) Goal 1 - Training This job is highly specialised and dangerous - she needs her wits and knowledge, but also strength, balance, flexibility, stamina and a strong constitution. She needs to be able to move quickly in many directions, stretching and flexing at odd angles, and be able to lift herself up, over and through things. Sprinting short distances is also a key skill. Complete 3 workouts per week Bonus points for doing extra mini workouts during the day, getting more than 10,000 steps, doing handstand training etc - these aren't part of the base goal, but can help mitigate missing one workout per week maximum if I do enough. What's the Plan? I'm learning that I won't exercise if I wait until I get home - I have to do it before then at ANY time of the day except between getting home and cooking dinner. I need to find good balance between spontaneity and preparedness - doesn't matter WHAT exercise gets done, as long as it is done! 16+min app workouts, Xtend Barre, TRX, Krav Maga, playground, HIIT and bodyweight circuits all count. Also do Assassin's guild mini challenges if they fit with goals and time. Building Stamina, Strength, Dexterity and Wisdom. Tracking Track all workouts and activities in Battle Log and post to challenge thread regularly with BL as Spoiler (like Hazard does). Measure progress for specific activities against goals in Battle Log at end of challenge. Revise goals at end as well. May track other result-related measures to help gauge progress, such as perceived difficulty of a challenging class like Barre or TRX, sleep quality and time to fall asleep, waist size, handstand time, new tricks (one handed cartwheels, layovers, etc) Goal 2 - Nutrition One of the skills she must learn is to survive on purely natural food - landing in a potential colony location she needs to be able to identify and prepare food as part of her mission to determine viability. Takeaway meals/bought lunch maximum of once a week, home cook from scratch rest of the time. Sub-goals: Follow histamine-lowering food plan from naturopath, and take all my supplements every day as prescribed. What's the Plan? No takeaway shops, little to no packages, loads of variety in veg and fruit. Cook/prep weekly to prepare for missions (i.e. work, and weekday life!) Have slow cooker meat and veg batches ready for busy/lazy evenings. Follow histamine-lowering plan provided by my naturopath, to try and get my skin reactions under control (this will take some time and tinkering, which is why it's a sub-goal at this time - avoiding takeaway will be required though!) Building Constitution. Tracking Take body fat using electronic analyser 3 x week (Sun, Wed, Fri) and adjust activity and food levels accordingly (maintain % only, not decrease). I am at an ideal body fat % now (22.6%) and have no desire to become leaner, so this is about food quality and making a strong habit of cooking for us (especially before kids come along and throw a spanner in the works!) Use Chris-Tien Jinn's method of colouring her foods each day (good, meh and bad) to help track nutrition cheats and histamine-raising food consumption. Goal 3 - Sleep Reboot and recharge, 'power cycle' - no one and no thing can be 'on' forever. She needs to learn how to look after her new body properly and part of that is a solid 'maintenance' routine - sleep time and wake time, plus all the 'little things' which add up to a good routine (washing, moisturiser, teeth, vitamins, checking her systems etc) Get up before 8:30am every day, and try to get ready for bed around 10:15pm. What's the Plan? See below re: self-hypnosis script. Also, just do it! I get enough sleep, I'm perfectly capable of doing this. This goal has been revised upwards from 7am after discussion with my naturopath, who said in order to maintain my sleep cycles on weekends it's better if I have an achievable goal to start with - considering I often sleep until 11am on a Saturday, I am inclined to agree. Building Constitution. Tracking I record my sleep patterns and quality in a Symptoms Log on Google Docs, which I started when I first met with my naturopath and has really come in handy for trips to my psychologist as well. I'll keep tracking like that, and put 'Yes/No' scores up weekly on my challenge thread as well. Life Quest Being the first to step onto a potentially hostile planet is a stressful and exciting thing. It takes courage, confidence, sureness of self and resilience. Mental training is necessary to ensure she has what it takes between her ears to deal with this job, not just what her body can do. Make and record self hypnosis script prior to challenge starting, listen daily. Aim is to support sleep goal and also improve stress levels, coping skills, attitude etc. (Building Constitution and Charisma) Side Quests 1) Commit to subscribing to at least 20 others' challenge threads to support them (Charisma) 2) Floss every day without fail! (Constitution) Motivation I want to: Make a strong habit of working out at home before pregnancy/childbirth/being at home a lot.Get into habit of healthy COOKING and eating prior to the big time.Develop cool skills that also have functionality, therefore having a resilient body. Become less fragile, more graceful.Build good sleep habits, no more weekends playing catch up - get circadian rhythm and deep sleep cycles sorted.Increase energy and mental acuity, decrease depression symptoms, mood swings and general bitchiness.Decrease the sensitivity of my skin to environmental factors, by following my naturopath's advice. Scoring 1) Habit formation - did I do what I said I would, the number of times I said I would do it? - for STA, CON and CHA. 2) Increases in strength, skill & flexibility for STR, DEX and WIS (don't have hard and fast scoring for these, they'll be judgement calls based on comparison of start and end of challenge 'abilities') I'll decide how to allocate my points when I finish, as I'm not sure how I'll go across the board. The majority of my goals are in the Constitution arena, but if I'm diligent with my workouts I may see great increases in STR, DEX and/or WIS so we'll see how I feel when I'm done!

Minion25 finds serenity Goal 1: Yoga 3x per week I have a “yoga in the AM†video that has 20min sessions, 20 min! There should be no excuse. STA-3 Goal 2: I want to learn how to Kayak. Weather permitting: Rent a Kayak (or Paddleboard!) at the State Park to practice with 1-2 times per week. Getting out into nature is a bonus! I MAY take a hike while I'm out there. STR-2 CHA-2 Goal 3: Eat at home I no longer go to Burger King, McDonalds, or Taco Bell BUT I do go out to eat A LOT. This needs to end. The exception is if I am going out with friends (or family)-which really doesn’t happen too often. Who knows maybe I'll really enjoy it?! A: 0 meals eaten out B: 1 meal eaten out C: 2 meals eaten out D: 3 meals eaten out per week WIS-2 CON-3 Goal 4: Channel my inner Disney Princess and CLEAN My apartment needs an overhaul cleaning. I haven’t been able to get down and actually scrub things for over 2 years (no lie-between my knee surgery and then my back I really haven’t been able to!) It’s rather disgusting and stressful. I have 6 rooms, and there’s six weeks in this challenge, how convenient. I’m going to TRY for one room per week, but we’ll see how that works with my “busy week(s)†at work. Now if I only had some helpful animals… CON-2 CHA-1 A: All 6 rooms B: 5 C:4 D:3

Introduction: Greetings fellow nerds, Jawad here! ^^ I've known about NerdFitness for quite a while now but never got involved until now. I know I'm starting this 6-week challenge a bit late, but I think it's definitely better late than never! (Longest Joke in the world reference? ) I'm not in the best shape right now and it's definitely time for a change. For the past few months - heck, years - I've been telling myself that it's time for a change, but whenever I start something it never lasts more than a few days. And I think that this challenge, and joining NerdFitness will be a great way for me to keep myself on track and finally make those changes that I need. I'm just about to start my 3rd year for my B.Sc. Computer Science. And I currently study quite far from where I live, which means I spend a lot of my time outside and end up buying my food (which is normally not very good). Also, my love for computers, video games and TV Shows, anime, etc. which keeps me seated for hours isn't really helping. Well, I guess that's gone on long enough, time to get into that challenge!! I've read up on challenges and thought I'd do a themed challenge too. I chose to do a Mad-Eye Moody (From Harry Potter) challenge. Challenge: The Mad-Eye Challenge Learning from Moody's example of constant vigilance, I too shall not trust anything I eat or drink. Now, I do not unfortunately have an awesome hipflask to carry my own drink around, but I could definitely make sure anytihng I eat or drink is safe by not accepting food from others. Main Quest: Change lifestyle for the better My current lifestyle is horrible, there is no doubt about it. If I continue like this, I'll only make myself more vulnerable for any dark wizards to take me down easily, don't think I don't see those signs, mispalced keys? I DON'T THINK SO, I know they've been moved and booby-trapped! Goal #1: Prepare own meals, at least 3 times a week. Eating out is dangerous, you never know what they put in that burger when they make it behind closed doors. So, from now on I will attempt to cook my own food whenever possible from ingredients that I will acquire myself. reward: 0 week(s) missed +3 intelligence 1 week(s) missed +1 intelligence 2+ week(s) missed +0 intelligence Goal #2: Avoid soft-drinks as much as possible (no more than 4 per week) Those cokes could kill me. so, to lower those chances of death, I will monitor my drinking thoughout the week and make sure I don't drink more than 4 per week. To stop drinking completely will be nearly impossible, not right away at least, I'll have to do this gratually. reward: 0 week(s) missed +3 consitution 1 week(s) missed +1 consitution 2+ week(s) missed +0 consitution Goal #3: Excersice every other day Avoiding poisoned drinks and explosive cake is great and all, but eventually my enemies will notice my new plan and will probably resort to physical attacks. But aha!! If I get myself to do at least 10 minutes of excerse every other day, I will hopefully be ready to retaliate. reward: 0 week(s) missed +3 strength 1 week(s) missed +1 strength 2+ week(s) missed +0 strength Life Quest: Get some personal projects started I've got a few personal projects that I've wanted to start working on for a long time now but never got around to. In the next few weeks I'd like to at least have some progress to show. I'll probably start with a small video game development idea that I've had for a long time, nothing too special but it's still something. I'll be using Unity3D and Javascript which means I'll be learning alot while working on this. Motivation: I'd like to enjoy my life in new ways. Dont' get me wrong, I do love my life. I love my studies, working with computers and new technology. I love palying video games with my friends and watching anime and movies and discussing who would survive the longest vs. Goku. But I'd also love it if I could go out for a run and not die after 10 seconds, go to the beach and have a great day, hike and climb and all sorts of things that I currently dread doing because they're too much for me.

Now, I reckon after all this hard work, y'all might be a bit hungry. Well, we're fresh out of Alliance Grade A food stuffs. Even if we did and I liked you all less, it still wouldn't go very far. This week, we need to go out and find something mighty tasty to fill our galley. Go out, purchase a food item you never have purchased before. Doesn't matter if it's a veggie or meat, a grain or a spice. Go out, buy it, and use it for a meal this week. Post the recipe here, and maybe some Companion-approved food images. Try to keep it healthy! We don't want 4 pounds of chocolate covered over a mound of french toast! That won't fuel your ship for long! And we need to keep flying.

Main Quest 6 months ago, my epic quest to become a badass rock climber, superb yoga handbalancer, and maybe potential Ninja Warrior competitor was seriously derailed by a horrible climbing accident. The gory details of how the accident occurred and my progress from then through now are under the spoiler. I won't be medically cleared for climbing, any sort of tumbling, real jumping (rather than exercise/controlled jumping) or many other fun things until at least July 9. So, rather than moping about what I can't do, I'm trying to view this as an opportunity to expand my horizons and try a few new things. We'll ride the spiral to the end.. Goal 1: Finish my PT I was released from formal physical therapy a week ago, but my rehab is still incomplete. I need to keep myself honest and continue strengthening my leg according to my therapist's guidelines. I created a spreadsheet of all of the exercises I need to continue doing. Each week, I must do each exercise 3 times. This is still a pretty significant time expenditure, as I'll have to include 30 minutes of endurance training, 30 minutes of yoga, lunges, squats, agility drills, my jumping circuit, a bunch of stretches, and more in my spreadsheet. I will give myself a weekly grade corresponding to how well I'm keeping myself honest and accountable for my PT. ...And may just go where no one's been.. Reaching out to embrace the random. Reaching out to embrace whatever may come. The rest of my goals are based on exploration and trying new things. Since I can. And since I can't climb. Goal 2: Learn some new tricks with my hoop. I'm a total noob with the hoop, but the movement is somewhat intuitive and easy for me to pick up, probably due to the weapons work I did when I trained in martial arts. I haven't spent a lot of time hooping, but I'm hoping to focus on it and have a greater opportunity to play around. So far, I can do waist hooping, hip hooping, waist to hip and back, waist to lasso, lasso to waist, a weave, and a sloppy vortex. Each week, I need to watch and try to follow along with at least 2 hooping videos on youtube. I also need to learn a new trick. The trick doesn't need to be perfect, but I simply need to have the basics down. Goal 3: Suck less at swimming I've never been a strong swimmer or much of a water person. On top of that, the last several years of wearing my glasses in the pool as well as having to mind my children in the pool has led to a lot of really bad habits. But, now we're heading into pool season, my daughter can swim (so I don't necessarily have to be glued to a kid), I have prescription swim goggles, and swimming is actually great physical therapy for the knee. The goal is that each time I'm in the pool, I make a point of working on holding my breath underwater, proper breathing, and doing actual, proper swim strokes. There's no time like the present for fixing my swimming issues and becoming a stronger swimmer. Goal 4: Continue expanding my cooking horizons This goal is a continuation from the last challenge. I really enjoyed becoming a more confident cook, and I'd love to continue with my kitchen exploration. Each week, I need to either try cooking one completely new recipe or I need to do one non-trivial cooking project. Life Side Quest: Mental healing I've been thinking about my productivity goal from last challenge, and I've come to the realization that I'm not really unproductive so much as indulging in anxiety creating behaviors rather than emotionally balancing ones. So, this quest is simple: Each day, I'll spend at least 30 minutes on an activity that leaves me calmer and more emotionally stable. These activities include (but are not limited to): yoga, reading for fun, playing the piano, meditation, or taking a long walk in the woods. In each case, the activity needs to be done when the kids are not bothering me or in my space. Each day, I'll also avoid one of my destructive behaviors (compulsive phone checking) by setting my phone aside and out of reach when I'm at the dinner table, out with the kids, or spending time with my husband. Had I known at the time of my injury just how long I'd be sidelined, I would have been devastated. But oddly enough, I'm very okay with everything at the moment. It's been an intense journey, but I've learned a lot about myself and my ability to persevere. And since I stole a bunch of lyrics from Lateralus (one of my favorite songs!), I should post the song here.

After last challenge I have come to realise that basically I spend most of my time climbing and my challenges need to reflect that. My main goal this challenge is to keep improving at climbing, by feeding my body well (it'd be nice to lose a little weight too but that's not an important goal this time round) and trying hard! 1. Cook something new and exciting each week, and try to have a few dinners each week that are really nourishing. Since realising I currently function better without dairy or wheat I have been doing a lot more cooking which I love. My goal is to make something new each week but also to make plenty of the stuff I've been making the past couple of weeks again. I seem to have stumbled upon a way of eating that really works for me, and I'm really enjoying eating a more varied diet, even though it initially came from having to restrict my diet! 2. Aim for 60g protein each day. Getting enough protein is always a struggle for me. I'm vegetarian and now without dairy too, it's hard. But I know my climbing will suffer and I stand a high chance of getting injured if I don't achieve this. I've been using myfitnesspal recently and it's great for tracking this. 3. Complete my 6c+ pyramid. Grade pyramids are a relatively new climbing training / motivation tool for me which ensure I am trying plenty of hard routes but also consolidating at lower grades. My current pyramid is 1 6c+, 4 6c, 8 6b+, 16 6b and 32 6a+. Once I complete all these routes cleanly, each level moves up a grade and I start again! Right now I've done 0/1 6c+, 2/4 6c, 8/8 6b+, 16/16 6b, 15/32 6a+. There seems to be a lack of 6a+ at our local wall, so if I don't manage to get 32 of those, I still get to move on when I've completed the rest.

Tanuki: Ranger of the North My first challenge was the place to make the mistakes and adjust my plans. I started out wanting to lose a bit of baby weight and tighten my abs. That was a short term goal - what of the future? Now that the second begins I should have a much clearer vision of what I want to achieve. And, though my first challenge had an Assassin's Bodyweight plan in mind, in practise I am exploring lots of different areas with no one true focus. I like to lift. I'm really enjoying yoga. I want to build some endurance and cardio health. I'm still working on diet and body size. I'm going to be pushing and pulling up, for sure, but my personal challenges are in other areas. And so that means Ranger. Which is fine. I love rangers. Especially this one. And for the next six weeks, Aragorn will be my inspiration as I attempt to achieve new goals. Main quest: Become stronger In all the ways possible. 1. Start running STA +3 DEX +2 I've never run in my life. I don't even run for the bus. I don't really know a thing about running. But I do know I want to improve my stamina, endurance, overall health, possibly lower my heartrate (80 at rest? Really?) and have a fixed method of burning calories. Biking is great, but I can't get up any speed in this area - so many obstacles and people running in front of the bike, I spend more time braking than sweating. I have a park, I have a trail, I have the C25K info. I've done Week One of the C25K and one session of Week Two. As a total beginner and utter non runner I'm really not expecting to fly through the program, even in 6 weeks. I expect to repeat a week or two. I pushed myself a bit too hard in the last challenge and I want to avoid that this time, so if I achieve Week 5 or 6, then great, but 4 is the goal - actually complete it, as in do the required timings, no walking in the run bits! That's "5-minute walk, then 3 minutes of running, 90 seconds of walking, 5 minutes of running, 2½ minutes of walking, 3 minutes of running, 90 seconds of walking, 5 minutes of running." Looks pretty daunting to me. A - Complete at least Week 4 of the C25K. Improve pace. B - 75% - Complete Week 3 of C25K. Improve pace. C - 50% - Complete Week 2 of C25K, or do some of 3 but not to completion. D - 25% - Complete Week 1 of C25K, or do some of 2 but not to completion. F - 0% - Do not run, or do not complete Week 1. 2. Strength training STR+4 Really enjoyed my progress in the last round - 0 pushups to 30, a few lifts of 5kg to 3x12 lifts of 9kg, now I'm on 13 and 15kg. I mean, it's small compared to barbell lifters, I know, but for someone just doing it in their living room I'm pretty pleased. Next step? Bigger weight, fewer lifts. I'm working on this routine 3x a week. If I manage to increase the weight/difficulty to that level I'll be really pleased. A - Perform the workout 3x a week, increasing weight and lowering reps. B - Perform the workout 3x a week, increasing reps, no increase in weight. C - Perform 2x a week or less, little increase in rep or weight. D - Perform 2x a week or less, no increase in rep or weight. F - Do not do. 3. Yoga DEX+3 WIS +1 Surprisingly difficult to find a gif of Aragorn doing yoga, so here he is just chillin'. I'm really enjoying yoga, even if I'm only learning online. With MyYogaPro there are courses and classes and I can do anything from a power vinyasa class to basic beginner poses. I really want to improve the basics - warriors (get lower), down-dog (get lower), forward fold (fold more), three legged dog (leg higher) - so I will measure progress with photos. Photos of my poses on the first day, and compare with photos of my poses at the end. I also want to complete the Power Yoga Course, Intermediate Poses I and II, Full Body Flows and Core Yoga. 5 courses! A - Noticeably improve 4 positions and complete the 5 yoga courses. B - Somewhat improve 3 positions and complete 4 courses. C - Make some progress on 2 positions, if you squint a bit, and complete 3 courses. D - Make barely any progress on position, but complete 3 courses. F - No progress on poses. Complete 2 or fewer courses. LQ: Food Con +2 Like many beginners I'm still exploring my relationship with food - what works, what doesn't, what was worth the calories, what wasn't. I'm also exploring new recipes that keep everyone happy - two hungry children, one athletic husband, one protein-seeking Tanuki. Some of my recipes are surprisingly low-calorie, others are huge calorie bombs (things with pasta, cream, cheese) and I'm still learning to balance them all out and neither obliterate my calorie budgets on one meal (this usually means skipping the meal and having chicken salad, which makes me feel a bit deprived), nor end up hundreds of cals under at the end of the day (hard to make up 200 cals just before bed), nor make things that make the others grumpy ("What do you mean, you don't like kale soup?"). I am also coming to respect the carbs I neglected in the last round of weight loss, and now that I am maintaining, I need to try and resist the lure of a daily deficit. I need to find a maintenance figure, and I'll never manage it if I keep ending the day 50-150 cals under my goal and secretly feeling pleased the scale will go down when I need to be keeping it around the same. The goal is: cook one new balanced recipe each week that keeps my family and my macros happy. Keep myself fuelled and stop being lured into additional, unnecessary weight loss. And no forgetting the carbs. A - 6 weeks means 6 recipes! Balanced carbs, good protein, don't forget fibre and keep the cals sensible. Remain at 51 - 51.7kg or thereabouts (112.4lb - 113.9lb) B - Only did 5 recipes, or 3-4 without much nutritional balance. Drop to 50.5kg (111.3lb). C - 4 recipes, or 2-3 with poor nutritional balance. Drop to 50.1kg (110.4lb). D - 3 recipes, 1-2 imbalanced. Drop below 50kg (110.2lb) F - I stopped cooking and got take out. Dropped below 110lb. Let the challenge begin!

Well helloooooo there, NerdFitness! Yep, I’m a little late to the party this time around, but I’m ready for another challenge! This last week has been chock-full of work panic, ending in the massive and glorious panic that is a Comic Con… so, I just decided to start a week late. But here we go! I have focused on some gentle, frequent goals over the last couple challenges, but I’m going to kick my training up a notch and see how it goes. After all, I’m getting out of the newb zone, and there’s no telling what’s in that tall grass! Goal 1: Super Training Well, it’s that time again where I’ve got to be putting on some weight, according to the doctors. Fortunately though, my body fat is at a high enough percentage that I don’t have to worry about increasing that too much, so I’m going to get back to trying to build a bit of muscle! My gym doesn’t have barbells, but I’m going to try and stick to a dumbbell routine. Everyone tells me consistency is key, which I have trouble with; I don’t enjoy weightlifting. But I need to gain mass, and I’m kind of over increasing my BF %. I'm thinking of going off of the routine suggestion I found here: Dynamite Dumbbell Workouts. So- Lift weights 4x per week. Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Goal 2: Mediation Training Continuing on with this one! But instead of my 10 minutes a day, I’m bumping it up to 15 minutes. Time to get those stamina stats up! Meditate for 15 minutes, every day. Also, keep up with my meditation instructor, have at least two meetings. Goal 3: Art Master Training Of course, it wouldn’t be a ‘Master Quest’ without my favorite training challenge! I do this last Life Goal in every one of my Master challenges. It's a long process! This has expanded to include anything that increases my ability to be awesome in art, design, or my job (promotional design). So it could be tutorials, sketching, reading books on marketing, doing industry research… basically anything that’s going to help me level up! Train in art/design/promo for 1 hour every day. That about sums it up for this challenge! Sketches will be coming soon. I can’t stand this post looking so un-artsy, I simply can’t. Also yes, I did my classic Catwoman thing last weekend, and it was super awesome. Pics to come. ;D