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This is Stronkey Kong here to tell you that I’ve got a real problem-- a set of problems really. And these are problems that you’ve all probably faced, and will face again. BUT! – Lucky for you... Lucky for me, lucky for us all, I’ve got a plan to combat these problems. And if you’ll stick with me, you can combat them too. Problem #1: I am too fat. Really. I weigh 300 lbs. It’s out of control. I have been fat all my life. Is it a slow metabolism? Is it because I’m lazy? Or just too busy to focus on eating right and exercising consistently? Problem #2: I am in too much debt. Student Loans. Credit Cards. Car Payment. Sure. I could work overtime like a dog at my job, but then I’d have no time left for me, for my friends and family, or for YOU! Scrimping and scraping pennies isn’t gonna get me that nice little piece of land. Now, it’s time for... REAL LASTING CHANGE. Problem #3: I want to work on my own terms, my own schedule, from wherever I want. If I had the freedom to set my own schedule, do what I love (writing), I’d have the extra time for more activities, spending time with friends and family, and traveling. Without a job tied to a desk, sapping my willpower, I’d have the energy and drive to work out more. And more time to focus on writing fiction and other creative hobbies that charge me up instead of draining the life from me. Can you relate? Have you, yourself, faced one or more of these problems in your life? Do you anticipate seeing them in the future? If so, at the beginning of this challenge, I’ll show you the ONE SIMPLE TRICK to making all of these problems go away. DON’T MISS OUT!!! Hit that “Like” button and SUBSCRIBE NOW!

Bro's and Swolemaidens, You have fought wars, slayed epic monsters and rescued fair maidens or squires. But, now it's time to feast in the halls of Bralhalla. Now, there are a couple ways to feast! Challenge 1: MFP High Score That's right. You know you're going to eat it, we know you're going to eat it, Grandma knows you're going to seconds, might as well as add up all those calories of Boar and Mead. Track all those calories (best reasonable estimate) and post it here. Name total cals consumed 1st: 2nd: 3rd: 4th: Challenge 2: 1 drink for me, 1 water for me The Mead and Wine over flows yea cup, but you want to be up and hunting monsters at daylight. How do you do both? After you drink your 1 pint of mead, you have 8oz of water before you move onto your next glass of mead or wine. Tell us of your journey! Challenge 3: The true believer Now this one is not for the faint of heart. This challenge is for the true believer of nutrition. You have your macro's and you're only going to eat that. Grandma and Aunt Sally be damned. To do this, you must attend a holiday party and remain within 100 cals of your daily goal. (no, you can't add 3000 cals to your daily goal for one day!) You can make multiple attempts at all 3 challenges, show your work so we can celebrate your success (and judge what you ate!) This Challenge will expire with the new year...

\ "Pardon me, miss Cyllene--don't mean anything by it, but we need to hide under your skirts for a bit." - Alex Kamal, The Expanse (S02E09) So, hey. Turns out the main 4-week challenge link still goes to the old forum, and I've been to busy to notice that the new forums went up in the background even though the main link still goes to the old one. If you can't tell, the wife & I are watching The Expanse. I've now read all the main-sequence books available, and await Book 7 with honestly more anticipation than I have for The Winds of Winter at this point. We're just watching the show for fun and to see the differences. So far, they haven't pissed me off like HBO's Game of Thrones did. But there's still time =) Problem here is that work's gone nuts on me. I went from filling one job role to three in about a week's span of time because of team members' vacations, and not only am I trying to manage an Agile project plus lead a team of off-shore developers but also trying to find time to do my regular stuff, like write project documents and actually solve problems and what-have-you. On top of that, we adopted a dog about two weeks ago from a local rescue, and he's either an overflowing handful or one of the finest dogs I've ever had the pleasure to know, alternating. I'm in the process of overhauling a fence to keep him contained so that he can have some freedom to run without my having to worry about his freedom in running the entire neighborhood. That brings me down to the not-challenge this time. I'm going dark for these four weeks--I don't expect to have a lot of time to breathe. I'm in a rare respite here at the moment, and I don't foresee one in the near future. That's not to say I won't be firing the occasional greeting out into the black, or maybe posting here once or twice when I can. My data collection is ongoing, and it's up to something like seven weeks so far of consistent calorie tracking. Last I saw my weight was somewhere around 204... it might be better, but weird sleeping arrangements (new dog) caused me to miss this week's weigh-in, so I won't have an update on that until next week. I'm stressed, but reasonably content. Just going to take some time to get everything sorted out and back on track. Good luck and godspeed to all my nerds out there--I'm with you in spirit, even if I'm not here posting. Over & out.

I really wavered on doing a challenge this time. But I'm afraid if I don't do one this time then soon it will be 2017 and I will weigh 400 pounds because I broke the only tether that reminds me I don't want to weigh 400 pounds. I've got another hectic few weeks coming up so I wanted to make this challenge as simple as possible. Goal 1) Eat 15,750 calories per week. That averages out to 2250 per day but I like to measure by the week because some days I'm hungrier than others. Goal 2) Household tasks. I will do 1 household chore per day. Every day. The only exception will be if I'm home literally less than 8 hours between work shifts. It happens sometimes and that time is too precious. Other than that, at least 1 thing per day. It can be as big as cleaning out the spare bedroom closet to as small as clearing off a small space in one room. I just need to get better about keeping the space around me in good shape. That's it. See Spot Run. You might notice there is no exercise goal for this challenge. My back is still giving me all kinds of grief so until that clears up, I'm not pushing myself to get to the gym. I am doing enough physical activity at work right now anyway. I also wanted to do a more stringent food challenge but I have to be realistic about what my schedule looks like. My beloved companion is not in the same place I am with eating right now so I need to keep it small manageable steps. I've been in a really horrible mood for the last 2 or 3 weeks. Just writing out this challenge already made me feel a bit better. It's that crazy NF magic.

First off, I'm new to the community and seeking the advice of fellow Fitness nerds! My base stats are... Age 18, 130 lbs, female, 5'1, generally a couch potato (computer, tv, video games, reading, studying.) My legs are all muscle except for a little chub on my inner thighs. I have been actively going to the gym a minimum of 4 days a week for at least an hour a day for over six months now (cardio and strength training). I have gained a bit of muscle and slimmed down some, but I hope to drop a bit more fat. Originally I tried to maintain a 1200 calorie a day goal, however that left me feeling ravished every day. I bumped it up to 1300 calories a day and still felt weak and tired all the time. I've come to the conclusion I am most likely not meeting my dietary goals and am under-eating as a result of faulty BMR and TDEE calculations regarding my height and weight because I have quite a bit of muscle that is not really accounted for. My question is whether I should even count my calories being so young or if a strict raw/clean diet will help me blast through these last 10 or so pounds? Any help is appreciated, fellow Rebels!

This challenge is more or less an extension of the last one: Goal #1: Floor 1 practice (6x / week) My mangled foot is on the mend, so I can finally get back into my unsual routine. Since I didn't make much (or rather: any) progress in the past couple of weeks with the Floor 1 program, I'm still stuck at phase 1B. I'll stay there until my foot can take all the jumping that's supposed to happen in phase 2. I've also started my yoga classes again, and I hope to make it back to kettlebell class this week. Goal #2: Keep the Sugar Monster at bay (2 - 3x/week max) I've been doing okay with this for the last challenge. The occasions where I go overboard with the sweet stuff are becoming more rare. When there's stuff around at the office, I now ask myself if I truly want to eat it or not. Astonishingly enough, the answer is quite often that no, I actually don't. Still, this is not on autopilot yet, so I'll aim for at most 2 - 3 Sugar Monsters per week. After sticking to 1 Monster per week for Lent (well, mostly), that should be doable. Goal #3: Stick to kcal target. Again. After a couple of weeks of doing basically nothing that deserves to be called exercise, the Easter holidays with all the chocolate-y goodness they bring, and a visit to my parents with way too much good food, I need to take better care of what I eat. Especially how much I eat. Because if you'll let me, I can eat A LOT. Though I've been tracking what I eat (more or less) for the past couple of weeks / months, the numbers have crept up, and so has my weight. Maybe not much, but enough for some clothes to not be quite as comfortable as they used to be. I aim for an average kcal target of 1550 / day. Tracking will be done via MFP. Life goal: Take care of stuff / make appointments: FSME shot: appointment in week 2: done! check-up: appointment in week 6: done! change tires: done! get ID + passport renewed: in progess: mug shots taken, application process started. call plumber with wishlist sort books and donate to local library (if they want them): 2 boxes donated so far, work in progress I don't know if I want to do the whole grading and / or stat points thingy this time around, so I probably won't.

Hello everyone! I know people a lot of times have trouble counting calories, (which I know is my biggest problem) as well as what they are in taking. (again, I big problem for me) we are all here for each other, which is why I wanted to ask people to join me on my fitnesspal as well as on here Please feel free to add me on both here and myfitnesspa I know we all need to support each other Good luck to every one and I'm looking forward to the next Challenge as well! myfitnesspal: LittleFireyPheo

Hello Druids. I have come to collect no bounties, but bounties of wisdom. Normally I train with my warrior brothers and sisters, but a knee injury has lead me to more tranquil waters. I injured the knee while locking out a push press. My knee made a loud pop. Unfortunately, it did not hurt that much at the time and I'm new to sports injuries, so I continued to perform heavy squats and deadlifts with it. Now I have an appointment next Tuesday with an orthopedist who specializes in injuries of the knee and spine. The short of the long of it is that I'm not to do any sort of lifting or cardio besides walking until I see the doctor. I have decided to do this challenge as a druid. It's time I performed some introspection and from there, gained wisdom. Main Quest: Develop/kick habits in order to bring my mind into a more healthy and peaceful place for sound decision making, planning, and harmony with others. Additionally, I will strive to come as close to my 199.0lb weight goal as possible. Goal 1. Tracking Calories and Protein for Fat Loss Based off an analysis of the last challenge's data, I will be using the following Calorie limit and protein goal: Calories - 1700kcal Protein - 150g I am 5'10 and 219.0lbs as of yesterday, Sunday, July 27. This puts me at 0.68g of protein/lb of body weight, which is perfectly acceptable. These values are moving targets and will be reevaluated weekly. Success here will be evaluated as a function of days tracked/total days in challenge or weight lost/20lbs, whichever is larger. Potential Stat Gain: +2 CON, +2 CHA Because I'm getting healthier and looking great. Goal 2. Walking OR Whatever Program (If Any) The Orthopedist Prescribes This could go either way. If he tells me that it will heal on its own, I will follow the walking plan. This will be updated to his plan should that become necessary. The elliptical trainer was starting to hurt my knee, but walking around my relatively flat neighborhood does not. Here is the plan I devised: Walking 3x/week Challenge Week 1-2: 30min/session Challenge Week 3-4: 45min/session Challenge Weeks 5-6: 60min/session I will use this as a time to calm my mind and enjoy the outdoors when I am alone and on the times my wife joins me, I will enjoy her company as well. Success here will be evaluated as a function of walks completed/total possible walks Potential Stat Gain: +3 STA My heart rate will definitely get up. Goal 3. Meditation I want to make time for meditation daily. I am excitable, easy to anger, stress prone, and welcome/sometimes seek out conflict. I want to change this because it is having a negative impact on how I feel, how I interact with my wife, how I interact with others in general, and my career. A part of this goal will be to discover effective methods for meditating. The first task will be to research basic meditative methods. Luckily, some NFers already pointed me in the direction of some books and apps. Starting out, I want to meditate for at least 5 minutes/day after work. I may throw in a morning session if I'm feeling adventurous later. It may take longer than this challenge to see big results (I don't know, I'm a newbie druid), but I plan to log the following: Progress made in handling my own emotions (fear, anxiety, anger, jealousy, greed, lust)Progress made in my interactions with my wife (cooperation, give and take, respect, trust)Progress made in my interactions with others (compassion, empathy, fairness, ethics)Progress made in how I view and handle career related tasks and incidents (laziness, problems with authority)Progress made in how I view and handle life chores and errands (laziness)For each day, I will be graded on whether or not I completed the meditation(s), and if I made notes on my reflections. Potential Stat Gain: +4 WIS For opening up and calming down my mind. Goal 3. Tapering off of Marijuana It's like my first challenge, but instead of soda, it's weed! I find that the leaf slows my mind and stifles my personality. It's great for relaxing and gaming, but not for my career, most social interactions, and productivity. Additionally, I had been hacking a lot between heavy lifting sets and this is the obvious culprit. Medical marijuana is legal in The State of California and I do have a recommendation from a doctor, but weed and I need to part ways for a while - a long while. I normally smoke from a bong once in the morning at about 7:30 AM, once immediately after I get home from work at 5:30 PM, and several bowls burn by between then and bedtime at around 10:30 PM. This is the planned taper. Each week's condition stacks with all previous. Week 1: Eliminate Morning Smoke - Except on Weekends Week 2: Can Only Smoke Three Times After Work - No Effect on Weekends Week 3: Can Only Smoke Twice After Work - No Effect on Weekends Week 4: Can Only Smoke Once After Work - No Effect on Weekends Week 5: No Smoking During the Work Week Week 6: No Smoking At All I've quit before to clear a pre-employment exam. I can do it again. Potential Stat Gain: +2 CON +2 WIS For cleaning out my lungs and my mind. That's it for now. This is prime for some revision between now and next Monday. Please, offer me some advice, particularly on meditation if you have some insights. I look forward to chatting with many of you. This seems like a really cool guild and I like the juxtaposition with the rowdy power seeking vibe of my home guild. I have a feeling that I will return as a much more well rounded warrior, and I'm excited as what fruit will bear in my real life. Cheers! Broba

If I'm wanting to lose weight should I be tracking my macros? Or is just counting calories enough? If I am to track macros, is there a good ratio to start with for weight loss? I'm really struggling to decide what to do and need some advice! I would really appreciate it if someone could help me out here. Thank you~