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Starting Stats: I'm a female engineer in graduate school. My weight fluctuates between 130-135#. That's kinda it. Still doing StrongLifts gotta max out those #n00bgainz No theme - just random gifs Struggling with some sleep issues, but It'll be fine. This is basically the same as my last challenge.... so For exercising purposes, since it's basically my graduating semester with a thesis defense and all, I'm going to be nice about workout goals and aim for 5 workouts a week. Ideally, this will be 3 lifting sessions and 2 yoga sessions. If it's an exhausting week or life happens, five yoga sessions is acceptable. [5 lifting session not that much. Sorry Br0din!] Goal 1: 5 workouts a week - I'd also like at least one 'cardio' day per week (not included in the 5), this will be defined as a single event that involves me walking/running/biking 2+ miles (Walking at work during lunch counts, but I usually only go one mile. Time to step it up!) I have a 5k March 5th, so that takes care of this week! Mobility hurts. Do mobility for a minimum of 5 minutes at least 5/7 days of the week. This is partly because I'm struggling a lot with the front rack position for both front squats and power cleans. Mobility helps, but I need to make it a goal or I'll forget! Goal 2: 5 mobility sessions per week, greater or equal to 5 minutes each. Massages count. Fuel is also difficult. I'm instituting a protein minimum of 75g 80g every day[that I track, still aiming for 5 days a week with that], and for each day I go over 100g I get a point. ! may come up with some rewards for different point values (like new protein powders maybe?) - totally forgot about the point thing last time. Maybe this time? Goal 3: Protein @80g 5/7 days School is difficult right now. I need to make it habit to work on school stuff for 30 minutes a day. Since master's thesis is happening, I will not run out of work until it is defended [late April]. No exceptions. If I have a migraine, I will take meds and maybe read some articles I have printed. This will NOT be a weekly total kind of goal, since I have been in the habit of pushing stuff back until I have a day off, then on my day off I get a migraine, then I am mad and guilty and upset, and nothing gets done. 40 minutes a day. Not that hard people! LUYL Goal: 7/7 days with 40 minutes of schoolwork each (I'm studying wind engineering - can you tell?)

Hey guys! I'm back! No theme this time, unless I think of something in the next 24 hours. Starting Stats: I'm a female engineer in graduate school. My weight fluctuates between 130-135#, I had to take some time off lifting due to some health things, but I'm back in full swing now. Before I got sick, i was looking at moving on from a beginner program (StrongLifts), but since I'm making a comeback I've decided to stick with it for now. Probably around March I'll start looking at intermediate programs again? For exercising purposes, since I'm still recovering a little from being sick and it's basically my graduating semester with a thesis defense and all, I'm going to be nicer about workout goals and aim for 5 workouts a week. Ideally, this will be 3 lifting sessions and 2 yoga sessions. If it's an exhausting week or life happens, five yoga sessions is acceptable. [5 lifting session not that much. Sorry Br0din!] Goal 1: 5 workouts a week Fooding is difficult. About midway through last year, i found out I have a diary allergy, and to be quite honest, I'm still having struggles. I got an Instant Pot last challenge, any recipe recommendations are welcome! Goal 2: Try a new dairy-free recipe every week (or 4 total throughout challenge) Fuel is also difficult. I'm instituting a protein minimum of 75g every day[that I track, still aiming for 5 days a week with that], and for each day I go over 100g I get a point. i may come up with some rewards for different point values (like new protein powders maybe?) Goal 3: Protein @75g 5/7 days School is difficult right now. I need to make it habit to work on school stuff for 30 minutes a day. Since master's thesis is happening, I will not run out of work until it is defended [late April]. No exceptions. If I have a migraine, I will take meds and maybe read some articles I have printed. This will NOT be a weekly total kind of goal, since I have been in the habit of pushing stuff back until I have a day off, then on my day off I get a migraine, then I am mad and guilty and upset, and nothing gets done. 30 minutes a day. Not that hard people! LUYL Goal: 7/7 days with 30 minutes of schoolwork each

Soo.... um.... idk if you've noticed, but I'm a huge nerd. THE NEW STAR WARS MOVIE WAS AWESOME. No spoilers of course. [AWESOME - GO SEE IT.] So I will have three main goals this challenge, as per the new format. I am quite excited. Little backstory: I'm 22, female, an engineering student, I love lifting, and I hate when stuff gets in the way of said lifting. Recently, I had a bout with.... well, we still aren't quite sure. Health-wise, I'm still not 100%, had some fatigue issues, a fever of unknown origin, etc. Went to lots of doctors, and have another appointment soon. So after taking over 2 months off of lifting because of this, I'm slowly getting back in the game. Problem? Inflammation seems to be the cause of my issues, and lifting isn't the best thing for that. I'm doing yoga, but I need to be careful with the lifting, in addition to taking all my meds/supplements to get better ASAP. Onto the fun stuff! Quest 1: Lift twice a week. For now, I'm doing StrongLifts again, and just doing one Workout A and one Workout B per week. I know, I know, you're supposed to go three times a week, but that ended... badly. So twice a week it is! [NO MORE ELVIE]. Less is actually better than more for now. Quest 2: Yoga twice a week. This is one of those things that supposedly helps with inflammation, so somehow in my last challenge where I accidentally started doing it and was wondering why I felt better after yoga than after lifting... there you go. I have a unlimited pass for a yoga place near my apartment, and I also have a subscription for NF Yoga, so the excuses are basically non-existent. Do the yoga. Quest 3: Track the things.... this is a weak point. Just do it. 5/7 days for now. Life Quest: Get Thesis Proposal out by deadline, then work on actual thesis.

Hi everyone! Time for another NF challenge J I’ve been using my battle log recently, but now I got an urge to participate in a challenge! After a great summer, I’ve found it hard to adjust to going back to my studies. The past two years have been very busy and filled with studies, but this year… I’m having half the amount of courses. This is thanks to me working my bum off last semester, but I realized that this is hard for me. To study less. To have more time to myself. To help me cope with real life (le gasp!), I got an idea: to create my very own super spy identity! I’ve always wanted to be someone like Black Widow, and now’s the time to work towards that dream I study languages, computer science and information science, so I’m getting well prepared for managing super secret international information… Kinda. What I really want is to help people. Whatever profession I will have in the future, I want to help people - whether I’ll be a librarian, helping people find the information they need, or a super secret spy, uncovering all the delicious pancake recipies… Wait, what? My codename: SHEPHERD FOX. An international super spy, whose goal during this challenge is to help all the cows in the world to keep their milk. And look great while doing it. Committing more time to myself, my health, and the NF community should keep me grounded and focused (or make me create Excel spreadsheets on a Sunday morning… what the heck??). I have worked with a lot of emotional pain the past few years. During this time, I’ve got to know people, who have helped me get out of my head and look at my life with softer, loving eyes. Some of these people I’ve met here on NF, and I just want you to know that you’re all heroes. Every weird and funny conversation here, every terrible joke, the puns… They’ve all encouraged me to get out of my head and keep believing in people. You’ve got no idea just how far a bit of kindness can take a person.You’re gold <3 I finally think I’m ready to leave the past behind and keep living my life without the emotional baggage. Well, it’ll always be there, ready to emerge, but I know that I will be able to handle it. That’s enough. I’m enough. To kick my mindset in place, I wrote a list of things I’d wish to accomplish. I am someone who: 1. has energy to get through her days 2. has a healthy relationship with food 3. has time to have fun with her friends 4. manages her finances by planning ahead (what to buy, does meal prep, etc.) 5. manages her studies/work by being active. Well, that’s a start. To get this mission going, let’s check my goals! Goal #1: Meal Prep I started meal prepping this summer, and it’s made eating healthy a lot easier! I make a bigger bunch of food twice a week, and eat it during the next three or four days. So, when I come home hungry and tired, I just take healthy food from the fridge, heat it up, and boom: keeping it quick and healthy! Meal prepping is part of this challenge, because my daily routine has changed a lot and I want to make sure that I keep this habit going. To complete: - plan ahead meals for the next 3 days - make a grocery list - only buy what’s on the list - have a meal prep on Wednesdays and Sundays Goal #2: Don’t Drink Your Milk During the summer, I cut out yoghurt, cottage cheese and quark from my diet. This has made losing and maintaining my weight a lot easier, and it is also recommended for people with PCOS to drop dairy products (they produce testosterone among other things in your system, which is bad for PCOS). For the next 6 weeks… No dairy 5/7 days a week. Besides cream in my coffee. Because I'm not gonna live forever. To complete: - avoid dairy 5 days a week for 6 weeks. Keep the cows happy. Goal #3: Shake It Up This would be my exercise goal…! I’m already active, but to surprise my body every now and then, I’m going to complete a Darebee WO in addition to my regular training schedule (2 kettlebell WOs at home, yoga class on Wednesdays). To complete: - 2 kettlebell WOs a week - 1 Darebee WO a week - attend yoga class on Wednesdays The flu season is here (hurah!), so this goal might take some damage. But I can’t really help falling sick, so I’m taking the sickdays into account. Goal #4: Money Count Yeah, I’m too careless with my money. I do get along fine, but I’d like to really know what I’m doing. So, this challenge is for tracking where da riches go, and I’ll start working with this data during next challenge! To complete: - mark your spent money on a spreadsheet. Data will be used in the next challenge! ** That’s all, folks. Let’s have fun, shall we? I actually made a couple of spreadsheets (you Doodlies are bad influence!), which will definitely help me to stay on track. I'll modify them a bit, and post later

So I just completed my entry for yesterday in My Fitness Pal, and it gave me an error message that said 'You are likely not eating enough'. When an program that is clearly designed to help people lose weight tells you that you aren't eating enough, LISTEN! (In my defense, I've been feeling like I'm getting a cold, which kills my appetite. But still. I really need to eat more than 1,000 calories a day.) Okay, so I'm ElvenEngineer. I'm a 22 year old female grad student in civil/structural engineering. Contrary to the above, I am not trying to lose weight. I am quite comfortable at 135#, size 2 pants, and size 4 shirts (because biceps - duh). My problems with eating are that I forget about it. No bueno. If I track MFP throughout the day, I'm better at knowing where I am, and am better able to hit goals. My goals this challenge will be focused on food. Because who doesn't love food? You know who does love food? HOBBITS! I promise there will be gifs. Many gifs. (I think I always promise this. I might fail on the gifs.) Quest 1:Track in MFP. Like seriously. It isn’t that hard. JUST DO IT SILLY. No calorie things, though I would like to be 1500+ every day. At least.Track ALL the food for 5/7 days= A [+4 STA]Track ALL the food for 4/7 days= B [+3 STA]Track ALL the food for 3/7 days= C [+2 STA]Track ALL the food for 2/7 days = D [+1 STA]Track NONE of the food = F Quest 2: Get at least 75g of protein a day. Bonus points for >100g. Eat ALL the protein for 5/7 days= A [+4 STR]Eat ALL the protein for 4/7 days= B [+3 STR]Eat ALL the protein for 3/7 days= C [+2 STR]Eat ALL the protein for 2/7 days= D [+1 STR]Eat NONE of the protein = F Quest 3:Try one new (dairy-free) recipe a week(ish). I will be buying a cookbook to make this easier.Cook 6/6 new recipes this challenge = A [+4 CON]Cook 5/6 new recipes this challenge = B [+3 CON]Cook 4/6 new recipes this challenge = C [+2 CON]Cook 3/6 new recipes this challenge = D [+1 CON]Cook <3 new recipes = F Life Quests: -Toast Masters meetings [+1 CHA for each meeting attended (Max +3)]-Don’t slack off on thesis-Keep putting 20%+ into savings-etc. etc. Dairy-free reasoning: Basically, it makes me feel bad. I haven't had a migraine since I cut it out, and I am feeling generally better. Good enough for me! I'm not vegan, I eat meat. I just don't eat/drink dairy. No, I haven't gone to the doctor. I might, when I have free time (which is non-existent). Rather than spend time specifying what in dairy my body doesn't like, it's faster and simpler to just avoid it altogether.

For the first time since late 1999 / early 2000 I managed to get my weight below 210. A few years ago I stalled around 215, and recently I've been fighting to get it to move from around 212. I've been doing strict keto for the past month, but when I cut out cheese and other milk products I was able to drop nearly 5 pounds in a matter of days. I don't know if I'm actually lactose intolerant but it's definitely a possibility, as I know of 2 other family members who have had problems with milk. I'm going to stay dairy-free for a couple of weeks, then reintroduce a small amount to see what happens. Onward and downward to 195!

So I had never heard of a massaged salad, but after trying this, I'm a new fan. I've always read about how healthy kale is but it just tastes so Blech! This changed my mind. Also A Veggie Venture ROCKS! http://kitchen-parade-veggieventure.blogspot.com/2013/02/kale-salad-to-go-with-avocado-apple.html Ingredients: Kale Avocado lemon juice salt apples nuts You just tear up the kale throw the salt and lemon and avocado in and squish it around (massage it) - the avocado becomes the "dressing". It feels a little gross, but it makes ALL the kale have flavor on it. I could eat this every day. Also go check out ALL of their recipes! http://kitchen-parade-veggieventure.blogspot.com/

Hello! I was looking for a tasty breakfast that could be made in advance and stored in the fridge to be rewarmed when needed, and these mini quiches fit the bill. If you want to try them, here's the recipe! Makes 12-18 | Ingredients: 6 eggs 1.5 cups almond/soy/rice milk (I used almond) 5 strips of bacon 1 clove garlic, finely chopped 1/2 cup bell pepper, diced 1 cup white mushrooms, diced 1/3 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped 1 roma tomato, chopped salt & pepper You'll also need cooking spray and a muffin tin. (Feel free to substitute your favorite veggies) Start by frying your bacon and setting on paper towels to drain off some of the grease. After the bacon is finished, add the garlic, bell pepper, mushrooms, cilantro and tomatoes to the pan (on medium) to cook in the leftover grease (YUM) from the bacon. When the peppers have started to soften, turn off the heat under the frying pan, and begin spooning small portions of your veggie mixture into each space in the muffin tin. Aim for each to be 1/4-1/3 full. After you've added the veggies, chop up your bacon and add a few pieces to each space as well. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Crack all 6 whole eggs into a large bowl and add the milk. Add approximately one teaspoon of salt and pepper each (this is to your taste, really). Whisk this mixture until it's slightly frothy and smooth. Now pour (or in my case, scoop with 1/3 cup measuring cup) your egg mixture into the muffin spaces -- be careful not to make them much more than 3/4's full or you'll probably spill all over the place on your way to the oven! I added a little extra cilantro on top at this stage too, because I love cilantro. Place your tin in the oven for approximately 25-30 minutes. When the tops are golden brown and puffy, and you can stick a fork in and it comes out clean, they are done. After you remove them from the oven, they will sink back down again. You should be able to slide a fork around the edges and then lift them out easily. They might be a little crumbly! A couple tips or ideas: Mine were a little soggy, I think due to the tomatoes and perhaps a bit of excess bacon grease (nay!), however, they still tasted fantastic. If sogginess bothers you, you might drain your veggies first. Almost any combo of veggies would be good: I also made one with cilantro, mushrooms and shredded red potato. You could always add cheese as well!Good luck!