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Hey! I'm Jean but you can call me PurplePotato! I was recommended this website by a friend of mine and I was wondering if you guys could help me out. So, I wanted to get into muscle acquisition since I've got various health issues that often hinder my energy and overall strength. I'm looking to exercise my arms, legs, and core, since I have to work a lot of retail jobs and heavy lifting looks good on a job application, lol. I'm a creator, and a lot of my work is sedentary (I'm both a writer and digital artist), so anything I can do indoors is wonderful, though I'm not opposed to outdoor workouts as well! Just anything where I don't have to use or pay for a lot of expensive equipment since I'm a student and have to pack light! I also have disordered eating and food insecurity, so please, no diets or weight discussion! (Weight and diets are also triggers for me, so please tag before you discuss it!) Just anything that'll help me feel less woozy all the time would be great! If you need more details, my PM is open! Thanks for whatever help you can bring!

Shut down a bit after I dropped out in December. Didn't come back in January because I've been pretty chronically tired, and am finally off to the doctor next week to see if there's anything behind that beyond the usual combination of stress and work (I have my suspicions). Still tired, of course, but I miss you guys, so I am back! I have a great big project on the horizon that got approved last night! I am very excited and terrified about it. I am not expecting to get much rest in the next... 10 weeks unless I practice some dedicated self-management, so this challenge's goals are focused around that. (You'll get to hear about what it actually is after the official announcement gets made.) Goal 1: To make sure that my food intake optimises my actually-experienced energy levels. NHS advice for this is to have a few smaller meals instead of a couple of large ones, and like most health advice, "stop being so fat" is on there too, so the calorie target is for gradual weight loss. This would look roughly like: 08:00: 2 boiled eggs, bit of fruit, cup of tea (~200kcal) 11:00: Nuts (~200kcal) (11:00:03: Stop giggling at the word “nuts”.) 12:30: Whatever takes your fancy (~300kcal) 15:00: Something else worth about 300kcal that must contain one vegetable or fruit 18:00: Dinner (chilli and rice, roast chicken and couscous, or root veg soup and bread, all weighed out on prep day to amounts totalling about 500kcal) 21:00: Something else around 200kcal (e.g. a Nakd bar, or a pint of Guinness if it's after rehearsals) (Total calories: about 1700/day) Goal 2: To make sure that my weekly food prep takes as little time as possible without resorting to ready meals or a life of pasta. I need to be able to get it all done in the space of about an hour. So one oven batch, Two hob batches, of the bung-it-in-a-pot-and-forget-about-it variety. Sounds like chilli-not-really-carne, lemon-roast fake chicken with onion and peppers, and root veg soup to me. - So I'd prep my three meals, all of which mean I just need to fry off one big batch of onions and divide between them Then while they're cooking I'll portion out some microwave rice (because sod it) for the chilli and chicken, and some bread to go with the soup. The bread then goes in the freezer so I don't absent mindedly munch on it. Then I'll weigh out my nuts for the week's morning snacks. Never really liked being the kind of person who weighs her nuts, but I'm also the kind of person who giggles furtively at the phrase “weigh out my nuts”, so I'm sure I'll get over it. Goal 3: To focus on bodyweight exercises, stamina in relation to weight, and flexibility I'm saving up for moving house in the summer, so as well as giving up take-away coffee I've had to give up my gym membership, so no lifting or warrior-ing for a while, sadly. But I need to make sure I'm generally physically capable, so I'm picking up the slack by focusing on bodyweight workouts. This will take the form of our old favourite, the Nerd Fitness BBWW, with my usual yoga poses and splits practice. I have too little room and too many bits of plate glass in my bedroom to warrant handstands practice, but I'll live. It'll also involve some extra stamina-based strength work like planks and wall-sits. Three mornings a week, at home. Life Goal: Don't get eaten up by project plans. Using a strict time management schedule to do this, because I am going to need my rest, and a strict routine gives me peace of mind. I'll get out the A2 paper and the pens to write out a proper schedule, with tasks for the morning, during the day, and night-time, when I know exactly what's what. Tracking: UPDATE YOUR THREAD UPDATE YOUR THREAD UPDATE YOUR THREAD. In addition, I'll have to put £1 in the Idiot Jar for every time I miss a goal that day. This includes paying a £1 fine for not updating my thread for two days in a row. *Insert various taking-off noises here.*

Alright, I’m starting my first challenge here with Nerd Fitness. I’m new to the site and have never done this, so bear with me. I’ll try to make it interesting. So, after being sealed in the sacred realm for 7 years, Rhia (Link) has gained quite a bit of weight and is in no shape to become the Hero of Time and save Hyrule from the tyranny of Gannondorf. So now it is time for Rhia to gather her courage and head out on her quest to train and get into shape for the safety of the realm. It does no good for the Hero of Time to be late. While Rhia needs her beauty sleep, sleeping in is not acceptable. Every morning she should be on time and ready train! First step is getting out of bed and being ready to face whatever monsters and challenges are in Hyrule! Goal #1: By the end of the challenge, get up out of bed without hitting the snooze button. While Rhia may cut grass for rupees, she must not forget that vegetables are also important. Vegetables, while at first seemingly distasteful, can give Rhia the energy she needs to train her muscles and sword skills to perfection. Goal #2: Eat vegetables with at least 2 meals each week week. Ok, so we’ve got out of bed and had vegetables for energy. Now it’s time to get serious and train. Strength training is no laughing matter. How can Rhia take on the temples and bosses required to free the sages, if she is not strong enough? Training begins here and now! Goal #3: Go to the gym and strength train at least 4 days a week. Thus we begin the Legend of RhiaWolfe in her quest to save Hyrule and bring peace to the land. Will she make it? Can she fulfill her tasks as necessary to reach her goals? Or will the land be taken over by the darkness… stay tuned for more.

“Energy can be neither created nor destroyed. Thus power generation processes and energy sources actually involve conversion of energy from one form to another, rather than creation of energy from nothing.” The law of conservation of energy. It’s an irrefutable fact of physics. We talk about it a lot in relation to weight loss. Calories in, calories out. But I wonder; what would this look like in terms of the way I spend my daily energy? The way I spend my life? I tend to think about some things as "requiring energy" while others don't. But that's not true. Everything requires energy, according to the first law. And I have all that energy already within me. So it's up to me to be conscious how I spend it. So this challenge I'll still be making my to do list. But I want to explore limiting it. And reflect on what gets done -- and what doesn't. How am I choosing to spend my energy?

Ello All! I'm here for this challenge and I'm utterly excited. Quick note of who I am: Female 4 kids (2 canine, 2 human) Married to a magical man I love riding bike Strives for energy and understanding of what I eat and how it affects me My moods change more then the weather. I am training for a new job! First time I've worked in a year and a half. Here's my Long Term Goals: Ride 1000 miles this year (I'm at 380 miles) Lose my bloated gut Have unbelievable energy Be like Jeannie Gaffigan on the Jim Gaffigan Show We just watched the first season, and I love how supportive her character is for her husband and energetic she is towards her kids. Here's my challenges to get me there (baby steps). (Just note I had to re do my point system and I think this one makes more sense and easier to stay on track) Diet Small portions, big greens (1 pt) Focus on Anti-inflammatory foods, detox (2 pts) I know what foods bloat me. A large pancake is different then putting a little honey in my green tea. No eating after 8pm (2pts) Total Daily Diet Points: 5 pts. Total Weekly Points: 35 Fitness Ride minimum of 25 miles a week ( 2 pts for each 5 miles) I'm scratching this one off for now, due to certain circumstance, so I am going to sub it for this: Stay active through out day (2pt) Sit a maximum of 30 minutes at a time (2pt) Body workout twice a week (3pts) Stretch 5 minutes every morning (2pts) Stretch after workouts (Extra Credit 2pts) Total Daily Points: 6 pts. Total Weekly Fitness points: 57 pts Life Have sleep routine ( 2 pts) Wake up 5:30am (or early enough to get 1 hour to self) to get "me" time ( 2 pts ) Keep up on Journals (1 pt) Stay positive with kids ( 2 pts ) Total Daily Life points: 7 pts Total Weekly Points: 49 Total Daily points 20 points Total points for week 141!! I am going to do this with flying colors!

Hi and welcome to my Newbie ramblings....I found this site less then 48 hours ago so please bear with me if I am doing this wrong. I am a 33 year old busy as mother of two..a 14 and a 4, who not only juggles children but also Chronic Fatigue Syndrome as well as hurling around an extra 25 kg of fat that I need to remove. I have always battled with my body image and emotional eating which I used to balance with obsessive amounts of exercise so I didn't gain to much weight but after developing Glandular Fever at 25 and never fully recovering the excessive exercise part had to stop, however the emotional eating has carried on.....Over the last 7 years I have gained weigh and lost it and while I always though I was huge I never really was until lack of sleep, excess stress and a CFS relapse happened when Amber was about 15 months old. I was the heaviest I had ever been when pregnant with my youngest but with the combination of gentle exercise and the Paleo diet I managed to lose 22 kgs within 9 months after having her. I dropped from 89 kg back down to 67 kg which was still heavy for me however I have gained every single one of those kgs back on and have been battling with losing it again for so long that I am scared that I am stuck with it forever. The reasons being are firstly because I am a carb/sugar addict who reaches for these not only because the are quick and easy when life is busy but also because I crave them for energy due to my CFS and secondly I cant exercise like I used to and a 30 min walk at 3 km an hour is alot for my body to deal with at present...anymore than this and I end up in a flare. Weights and HIIT works outs which I love are the worst for causing this. My other battle is that I am a black and white thinker...All or nothing so a little exercise and moderate food changes are hard for me as my brain classes them as 'not worth it'.....So I am here to complete this challenge, challenge my own thinking so i can hopfully move past the black/white thing and to start making moderate changes to my eating, exercise habits and lifestyle which I hope will in turn help me lose weight, which should have a positive effect on my CFS which sets me up to be able to exercise a little more(here's to hoping).....Now all I have to do is...JUST DO IT! My Main Long Term Goals To lose 25 kg so that I feel fit, happy, confidant and healthy again, (to achieve by end of 2016). To eat 80/20 Paleo again as this helped my CFS and moods more than anything else ever has . To join the gym and be able to walk at least 25 km a week again..... To be fit and healthy enough to ACTIVELY do stuff with my family regularly. Challenge One: Rebel- 30th March to 30th April--------> Change of plans I will start on the 4th of April instead as I have just realized that I need to put somethings in place to make this achievable Diet Swap morning coffee and smoke for Hot water and a vege/protein filled breakfast Drink more water Eat more vegetables(aim at 5 servings a day) Fitness Complete the NF bodyweight workout 1x a week Walk to pick Amber up from daycare 4 x a week Lifestyle Aim at an earlier bedtime every night...10.30 pm is a good place to start I will measure my achievements daily and I will give each mission a achieved, half achieved or not achieved. Current weight and goal weight to come as are daily up dates The photo is of me but when I grew up or at least get smaller a little I am going to be Harley <3

I am at a the entrance of the Forest. Everything looks calm, inviting. But this is a lie. I know that the second I will cross the threshold of the forest, the beautifully green vegetation will try and absorb my energy, and touching any of them to rest will lead to a faster energy loss. The key is to keep on moving, to continue, during the cold nights and the sweltering days, to not let myself get distracted by the mesmerizing beauty of the forest, by the intelligence of the wild animals around me. I will encounter help on my road, and I prepared well for this journey. But it won't be easy, it will be a challenge... Nutrition Goal: To sustain my body and my mind enough to have the physical and mental strength to continue hacking my way through the forest, but to be weary of the many chocolate trees on the way Energy Goal: To sleep enough and rest myself regularly and not exhaust my reserves Survival Goal: To keep on going, to never give up. This is hard, this is supposed to be. But I was chosen to cross the Forest. I can do it. This will require all of my physical strength, but also mental discipline, to push forward even when my body is complaining. Life Goal: Cross the Forest, make it to the other side and be in better shape, my mind strengthened by this perilous exercise, my body toned and lean(er). In SMART terms: Nutrition: - Physical: Continue WW and mostly Paleo. Target being below 26 points but also higher than 15. EAT WELL AND ENOUGH. Daily measure: A = [15;26], B = [<15] U [26; 33], C = [>33] +3 CHA - Mental: Continue meditating and working on letting go. Weekly measure: A = [>6], B = [4;5], C = [<4] +1 WIS Energy: Sleep at least 45 hours per week. Likely during the week I will sleep less than 6 hours per night, but it can be compensated on weekends and through napping. Weekly measure: A = [<45], B = [40;45], C = [<45] +6 CON (Definitely need to strengthen my constitution!!) Resting my body through massages is also encouraged: each massage hour counts as half an hour of sleep. No weekly goal. Survival: Continue going to dance class. Challenge measure: A = [9;10], B = [7;8], C = [<7] +3 STA Life goal: Successfully lead the project, without letting others or pressure put me down or make me lose confidence. (Not very smart ) Have regular heart-to-hearts with my loved ones.

Yes, I am posting this challenge very late. I have had this theme in mind since before the challenge officially started, but I decided that there were other things that needed to happen more urgently than posting my challenge. Now I have waited long enough… Also, this challenge marks my 1 year anniversary on the NF boards doing challenges. I think this is a great challenge to mark my Nerdiversary (I was a month late in that challenge, too). :-D Those of you who have been following me for awhile know that I have spent a considerable amount of effort on digging out my baggage, doing some positive focus and gratitude rescripting, and so on. Near the end of the last challenge, I started getting the sense that it is time to stop playing around with making progress, and just decide to CHANGE. It is time to just be me – the true authentic me – and stop hiding. It’s time to wake the Dragon. So what is the Dragon? The Dragon is my name for my powerful, confident, authentic self. If you are familiar with Jungian (?) psychology, the Dragon is my version of the King – the part of self that is the benevolent ruler and ensures that all other parts of self are playing their roles and not trying to be in charge when it is inappropriate. The Dragon has mostly been sleeping for decades, allowing my Inner Child and other parts of self to run rampant. I am ready to wake the Dragon. What Has Already Happened This Challenge I have been keeping up with bodyweight workouts through the Game of Thrones PVP that I designed. I think it is fun and helpful. Though I have not been participating as much as I would like, it is helping encourage me to do more than I would be doing without it.I finished S-corp tax accounting for our 2 companies.I set up our staff for my husband’s company as employees and ran our first payroll.I finalized our worker’s compensation policy and got a quote for a new general liability and business personal property insurance policy.I walked on fire. Really. Our whole family (my Hobbit and the kids and I) attended a Tony Robbins Unleash the Power Within (aka UPW) weekend. The first night there, we all walked barefoot across 12 feet of hot (as in around 1200 degrees F) coals. My older son got a single small burn spot, but I had nothing but soot on my feet.I dug out and DESTROYED an old limiting belief I had about no one wanting to know the real me (also happened at UPW).I held a handstand for about 5 seconds. JGoals for the rest of this challenge Maintain State There are 3 key ingredients in controlling our state of mind: physiology, focus (what you think about), and meaning. I have generally been in a fantastic mood/state since returning from UPW, with a few exceptions. I will continue to work on managing my focus and the meaning that I assign to events, and add managing my physiology. This will include dancing, jumping, meditation, and other activities. Goal: maintain an appropriate positive state most of the time 5 or more days per week. Recovering from a negative state counts. J Discover my Strength Bodyweight workouts 3 times a week, increasing in AMRAP and/or intensity each week. Ideally, I would like to improve the AMRAPS I had from week 1 of the challenge by 50%.Spend at least 20 minutes bouncing on the rebounder daily to “Lymphasize†and work on aerobic capacity. Goal of 6/7 days per week.Stretching or yoga for at least 10 minutes, 3 or more times a week.Tap the Well of Abundant Energy This is the “other health†section. There are SO MANY things I could do here, but I am just picking a few for now. Eat a maximum of 1 “bad food†a day. These include concentrated sugars (sugar, palm sugar, maple syrup, honey, etc.), potato chips, and such. The chips I crush and put on my salad do not count at this point.Do at least 1 set of “energizing breaths†daily. This is a set of 10 pranayama-type breaths.Drink at least 50 ounces of water or non-caffeinated tea daily.Goal is 6/7 days per week for each of these. Even though I am late in posting, I have already been kicking butt this challenge. And in the spirit of this, here is my new theme song:

I have been receiving Nerdfitness newsletters for a while now - I like what they do here - encouraging health and fitness without the "gym rat" persona. So I decided to join in finally. It has been my mission to get myself into a better place with my health for over a year now - I want to be in better health and fitness at 45 then I was at 35! Having my last baby (of five) at 39 really kicked my butt and I haven't been able to recover physically yet (and she is now 3). To my credit- I have made a lot of changes so far - I have changed the way our family eats over the last year - retraining myself to buy and cook healthier - mostly paleo. I have had allergy testing and have done the elimination diet to find foods that were making me feel sick and eliminating them from my diet. I am also trying to sleep!! Battling insomnia on some nights - but this is getting better. I am taking the vitamins my Dr has prescribed and they help a ton! But...I feel there is room for improvement - I fall short in the exercise department for sure! So having a place to talk about my health, and feel accountable may be the motivation I need to push it to the next level. I just want to have more energy and strength to not just get through the day - but thrive! I will never be a skinny-minnie, nor do I want to be one, but I would like to feel a little more fit and toned and slim down some. I want to feel younger...I don't want everyone to think I am the grandma to my baby girls So! My goals: 1-Diet goal: Continue with the Paleo way of eating - be great during the week - don't feel bad for going 80/20 on the weekends. Take time to get good breakfast, take vitamins, and drink so much water!!!! 2-Fitness: Do 30 minutes 4 times a week (start there). Walk, do resistance training, yoga, use that dusty elliptical in the basement - whatever - just get moving for at least 30 minutes! Find the best time of day to do it and do it at the same time. 3-Try something new: Go to that yoga class I have been too scared to go to at least once!! Maybe find a buddy to go with me?? 4-Other "Life" goal: Keep doing one photo shoot a week - stay on top of editing and don't get behind. There. I just did that. Now let's see how I do.

Not very assassin-y but after the last two hectic weeks, I feel like Memphis tonight: MEMPHIS: "You'll have to forgive me. The music's gone clean out of me." MUMBLE: No, it hasn't. It's just like singing with your body. MUMBLE: It's just one big old foot after the other. That's it. MEMPHIS [singing]: You don't have to be beautiful... MAIN GOAL: Get that body composition in place - loose some weight! Loose 10kg by end of June 2015. I lost a couple of cm during the last/first challenge, and in this week that I took off, inbetween challenges, I lost just over 1kg! HOW: Q1 - Exercise 3x/week: (for 6 weeks: A -> 3STR + 2STA + 2DEX) one Butt Blast (legs and glutes),one AAA (Abs & Arms Annihilation),one Jump & Jive session (Dexterity and Energy) with the boys (afternoons)Q2 - Right of Weigh: (5-7 days per week for 6 weeks: A -> 2CON) Eat Paleo and drink 1.5Lt water (2x bottles) per day. Max. 2 small treats allowed per week.Q3 - Sleep: 6-7 hours every night. (5-7 days per week for 6 weeks: A -> 1CON) LIFE SUPPORT: LG1 - Bible study on God's promises. (Keep up to date for 6 weeks: A -> 2WIS) LG2 - Spend more personal time with my boys. (Keep up to date for 6 weeks: A -> 2CHA) LG3 - Finances and Studies (keep up to date). (Keep up to date for 6 weeks: A -> 1WIS) Starting off as a Level 2. Adjusted point-allocation to 15 at end of challenge.

Hi everyone, I'm a mom from South Africa who really needs to get out and get fit again. Used to be fit, strong and do a lot of hiking, but just lost the plot the last couple of years. I have tried to stay active by doing things like mowing the lawn (we have a huge garden), but sinus and allergies became too much last year, trying to stay up (running, jumping, walking) with my two boys (5yrs and 8yrs) but laziness and just general lost of oemph because of too much work in front of computer, in house, name it... made me tired and feeling old! So excuses in the past, I started a new exercise routine and last week did my first full week of training. Goals: 1. Loose weight (+- 10kg by end of April 2015) * Drink more water, less coffee (*sigh*); * Exercise 3-5 days a week, preferably 5 days; * Follow Paleo eating plan more strictly; * Get at least 7 hours of sleep every night. 2. Become stronger through exercise (comfortably lift and swing boys around! +-30kg each) 3. Be fit enough and take part in an obstacle race (start with very short race mid-year, and 2km race later on) I don't have any new "Life Goals" as we started home schooling three years ago, and I started importing books to sell here in South Africa about a year and half ago, and I'm my husband's secretary, and those are almost full-time jobs by themselves. So just want to be able to get everything done. Nothing new! So that is about it. Thanks in advance for listening and all the support. Elize

This is a new group, and I am open to suggestions - so pipe up and let me know how this group can be made better so that YOU can stick with the challenge and overcome the barriers that hold you back. This group is for people who suffer from depression in all its forms. Seasonal affective disorder. Clinical depression. The "blues". Or as my friend Lycan Thom calls it - The Black Dog. I always thought that I was alone .... or relatively rare .... in suffering from SAD while trying to workout and eat right. And then when I became an ambassador and started seeing so many new people posting about how depression kept them from making changes in their lives, I decided to try making an accountability group for those of us who suffer with depression. Depression ...... It's a chemical imbalance in the brain that can leave sufferers barely able to function in their daily lives let alone find the energy to make significant life changes. BUT we CAN make progress. We CAN learn to recognize when the dog has us by the nape of the neck ... or even anticipate an attack before it hits ..... and we CAN make changes that will lessen it's negative influence over our lives. We CAN tame the beast and become its master. Together. So, if you want support from people who are going through similar struggles - this is the place. I'm no expert on the subject - just a fellow sufferer who has figured out some tricks to keep that ol' puppy at heel most of the time. If you join this group, I'll ask that you check up on fellow members at least weekly. For some people in the southern hemisphere, this is winter, and they need us to help lighten their days big time. I will ALSO have a weekly topic for us to think and post about - these are all optional. Respond and share if you feel comfortable in doing so, but don't feel that you must join in that part of the discussion. AND - if you join, ask for help when you need it!! That's often one of the hardest things for us to do - to recognize when we're slipping and need a hand. Practice asking here. So, sign up on the accountabilities spreadsheet and post here with a link to your challenge thread if you are "in"!!! I'll create a roster of people and their thread links. I will also make a placeholder post for each week's discussion topic and update those as the challenge progresses.

After hitting a slump during my sixth challenge I decided to "quit" on that one and take some time to focus on other things in my life. I was starting a new job (which is going well), and dealing with some other things. Most of that is sorted out now, I kicked a bout of depression I was having and overall am feeling positive in coming back here. I decided it was also time to get back to basics, refocus on my original goals coming to NF, and start fresh. I was pushing myself a bit too hard to branch out in my last two challenges and they suffered as a result. So without further ado... History: A bit of background may help. This will be my seventh challenge on NF - although I didn't complete anything past week one from my sixth, so I'm calling it my sixth. My goals when I started on NF last August were to lose weight, reach a 32 inch waist, drop below 10% body fat and build strength. Not to mention nail those pesky salmon ladders... Since then my goals have changed. I lost over 50 pounds, maintaining about 160 currently, my waist is hovering at 31 inches, and I'm at about 12% body fat. I feel good, and if I may say so, I look good. So, looking at my first second challenge (my first was... poorly designed due to lack of guidance in the level 1 group at the time), I've decided to revisit some of those goals and help bring myself back to what I originally wanted to achieve, and continue on that path: Main Quest: Drop to 8% BF, eliminate stomach fat. Squat 1.5x Bodyweight, Deadlift 2x bodyweight. OHP, Bench and Row 1x bodyweight. These continue to be my overarching body goals. I'm getting pretty close, and this challenge I'm going to refocus on the basics to help get me there. As always, in order to hit this goal I am driving forward with several sub goals, which will be worked into this challenge. Steadily increase my Squat, Deadlift and Pull Ups in weight and number.Do Salmon Ladder Pull-Ups. Because... seriously.I also want to, eventually, get my mile-run speed down to 7 minutes solid. (Not a focus this challenge)Quest 1: Eat Paleo - One of my biggest challenges during the last 8 weeks or so has been my eating. I've just been... eating to eat, and I need to bring that back under control - primarily the amount of sugar I'm eating. It's mostly from fruit, but it's still in the 50-60+ grams a day range. So, the goal is eating 90% paleo/primal, and keeping my sugar intake under 50g a day (closer to 30 if I can). Quest 2: Lift Heavy - I've also been slacking on the gym, having only gone 3 times in the last three weeks (yeah...). So quest 2 is to lift heavy three times a week, with regularity, and focus on the strength progression of the Stronglifts program. We MAY be switching gyms in the middle of the challenge (for those of you who know the story, yes this is still an ongoing battle), but that shouldn't interrupt anything. Quest 3: Be Flexible/Mobile - Beyond strength, I also want to focus on my mobility and flexibility, which gives this quest a two-pronged goal - Yoga 3 times a week and walking at least 6 miles a week, a total of 40 miles over the course of the challenge. Both doable. Life Quest: Clean Up the Clutter - My ongoing quest to make it look like we didn't just move into our apartment (that we've lived in for almost three years now). Goal is to consolidate at least two boxes into one box every week, and sell, throw out or give away at least one item every week. Currently trying to sell some records, Magic cards and a few other items on eBay. I also have a kitten that we rescued during the last challenge that I'm trying to find a home for - hopefully all can be accomplished during these six weeks. Personal Quest: Save - My fiancee and I have been focusing on our budget a lot recently and our struggle with saving (toward our wedding), so my last goal, rather than being fitness oriented, is another life goal - save more. I have a strategy for this, but it essentially boils down to spend less. Less booze, less eating out (which happens infrequently anyway) and less wasted money on trivial things. My new job, plus the things I'm trying to sell, should help with this. My fiancee is also looking for a job - that would turn things around 180° if it happened... So there you have it. Ravnos' seventh sixth challenge! Let's do this!

Hello Guys! I have been following Nerd Fitness emails for a while and I decided to give it a go and write here on the Forum! I am a reasonably healthy and slim individual, however, I have a very sedentary job (office-based) and after more than a year of pretty much no exercising I have started to feel as if I am deteriorating. I have started cycling to work every day about 2 months ago (3 miles each way, up hill back home!) and day on day I can start feeling the improvements to how easy it is to cycle. However, despite having this form of exercise very regularly (I now cycle instead of using public transport), I have been battling with lack of energy and complete lack of strength! I feel reasonably fit when I exercise but both my legs, core and arms feel really week. So... I have two questions really, and I hope that some of you could share your experience and suggestions: 1) What sort of exercise program/sport would help me to develop much more strength and endurance without necessarily making me gain a lot of muscles (a little bit of fat loss would be always welcome)? 2) What sort of dietary/exercise improvements would you suggest to feel more energetic every day? I feel sluggish and it really irritates me as I'm only 25 and feel that really would like to be full of energy! I sleep OK most of the nights (7-7 1/2 hours), I don't use any caffeine but I do eat sugary foods most of the days. Your share of wisdom would be much appreciated :-)

Main Quest : Get leaner while improving my energy levels. I need to be (more) strict with myself. Hence the screws I think I'm doing a lot of the right things. I just need to do them a little better.. Sub-quest 1 Get on the plate The current regime is 3-4 meals a day. The fourth meal is optional and depends on how hungry I am when I get in after work. I know I've got back into some old mindless habits again so I'll be sitting down at the kitchen table, focussing on what goes in to my gub, staying off bread, beer (except a little Belgian at the weekend) and processed sugar. There needs to be a little less (i.e. no ) chowing down on uncounted nuts while wandering about the house after work, decompressing. I'm also working on the quantity. A portion of protein, portion of veg,, portion of smart carbs, portion of fat at each meal. I don't like leaving food on my plate so I'll be working on being more careful about what goes on the plate in the first place. Scoring : A: Portions observed serving food each 7 days ; B 6 days ; C, 5 days ; D, 4 days Sub quest 2 Get serious about HIIT. My programme at the moment is three days of weight training and two days of HIIT. I haven't been taking the HIIT seriously : too much time on the elliptic and a bad habit of watching trash on youtube at the same time has made it a 'bleh' activity of limited benefit. So my goal is to make it more interesting and more focused. The two sessions need to be different from one another, they both need my full focus for the session and I need to treat them like proper exercise including mobility work and stretching afterwards. Scoring : A, two different HIIT sessions, given full focus. B, two HIIT sessions, given full focus. Anything else, FAIL Sub quest 3 Get mental. I've been playing with meditation but not really adopting it consistently . So I plan to do two 5 minute sessions a day. One at lunchtime. One when I get in from work before I open a kitchen cupboard. Can you see the thought process here? Scoring : A: 10 – 14 five-minute meditations per week B. 5- 9 five- minute meditations per week. C 1- 4 five-minute meditations. LIFE Quest Stop bloody buying ebooks on Amazon 1 - Click. The madness has to stop. Plus I have a big back-catalogue to read. Scoring A: No books bought. F: Shall I state the obvious?

Hi everyone! I've started, and done pretty well, with a new 10K program. All seemed fine until I started getting into the heavier runs and I noticed that I started to fatigue immediately, migraines have accompanied my every run and recovery, & my legs are like anvils.Performance sucks! Motivation is still there though, YAY! So I started researching the migraines after exercise and found that it's possible that I am not getting enough carbs. Ok, I'm a Paleo kind of girl, it makes sense. So I felt a little icky this past Saturday night and ate some homemade chicken and brown rice soup. My run two days later was like a dream. So my thought was "ok, I'll eat more "carby" Paleo foods like sweet potatoes....that did not do the trick, two days later my run began with the same funky symptoms as before. Am I doomed to put on weight caused by grains to fuel my runs??????

"I'm prepared to scour the the Earth for that motherfucker. If (ENERGY) goes to Indochina, I want a n*#$$# waiting in a bowl of rice ready to pop a cap in (her) ass!" last challenge was nothing to write home about. life happend an i was mostly overwhelmed. i want to find a way to keep building my own business as a social worker, studying psychology, moving, reducing cigarettes and losing weight without it being too much to handle. so im back with a new set of mini - goals intended to maximize my physical and mental energy. GOAL I "You remember Antoine Roccamora, half black, half Samoan, used to call him Tony Rocky Horror? "Yeah, maybe. Fat, right?" " I wouldn't go so far as to call the brother fat, I mean he got a weight problem. What's the n*#$$# gonna do? He's Samoan." week 1: prepare 3 healthy dinners for the week. start each day with a bowl of quinoa, fruit, eggs, selfmade muffins or oats.week 2: prepare 5 healthy dinners for the week. start each day with healthy food like described above.week 3: prepare 5 healthy dinners for the week. also prep 3 meals to take to work. selfmade breakfast.week 4-6: prepare 5 healthy dinners for the week. healthy breakfast. take food if you are away from home at lunchtime. no fastfood until end of challenge.count calories at myfitnesspal daily.lose 3 kg this challenge to finally get into the double digits ( 99 kg/ 218 lbs) dont gain because of quitting smoking.GOAL II So,tell me again about the hashbars? Okay, what you wanna know? Hash is legal there in Amsterdam, right? Yeah, it's legal, but it ain't a hundred percent legal. I mean, you can't just walk into a restaurant, roll a joint and start puffing away. You're only supposed to smoke in your home or certain designated places. And those are hashbars? Yeah. It breaks down like this: it's legal to buy it, it's legal to own it, and, if you're the proprietor of a hash bar, it's legal to sell it. It's still illegal to carry it around, but that doesn't really matter 'cause... get a load of this: if you get stopped by the cops in Amsterdam, it's illegal for them to search you. I mean, that's a right the cops in Amsterdam don't have. [laughing] I'm going, that's all there is to it, I'm fuckin' going. Yeah baby, you'd dig it the most. i dont smoke weed. still the cigarettes need to go. ive tried to quit several times during last challenge and went literally insane. now i have ben reducing them which is usually not recommened but works well for me. during last challenge i reduced to 23. this challenge i want to get down to 20/ a day.week 1 reduce to 22week 3 reduce to 21week 5 reduce to 20changed goal: stop smoking completely on monday 09.23th. battle plan.... nicotine patch. GOAL III i want to get more physical energy and improve my mood. i have almost recovered from my inflamed archilles-tendons. a trial run showed that i can run a mile almost without pain. still i need to be careful.i get back to my playout concept of giving myself the option to move in whatever way i want. there is 3 rules though:1) move at least 2 hours for week 1 - 3 of the challenge. week 4 - 6: make that 3 hoursnew goal: move at least 1 hour a day, get sweaty at least once a day.2) go move in nature at least once a week and stay outside for an hour 3) this challenge its about getting back into it with playfulness. no improvement necessary! GOAL IV during last challenge i had to fight insomnia. goal for this one is to get back to good sleeping habits and using plant based pills ( non of the adictive, bad stuff!)sleep 8 - 9 hours every night.( weird, but i need that much to function..) not more, not less.prepare going to bed by calming down ( read, listen to soft music, dim the light, get the right temperature and fresh air into bedroom....)

I have very low energy levels. I poke at what needs to be done, but the minimum is usually what I manage to get done. (My minimum is higher than those with a well-kept house, but it's far below any sort of rural workload.) I am weary much of the time. I do have plantar facialis in one foot, tarsal tunnel in the other. I was also reading over a previous post, and I mentioned my legs constantly hurting. I'm hoping that all of this is weight-related, and I know how to manage those aspects. I don't know how to overcome the need to spend so much time resting.

Help! I am on day 4 of my new paleo lifestyle. Overall, I am feeling a ton better. Heartburn is starting to be manageable and I feel well rested in the morning. My workouts are a different story. I literally have no gas in the tank. I really need some advice on how to increase my energy levels. I kind of figured that my body will have to adjust to my new way of life but if I can have some advice to minimize the "adjustment period" that would be great. Thanks!

Wondering if anyone knows of any yoga videos or work outs that don't include the hippie B.S "energy" "flow" "chakra" ect. I'm trying to get more into yoga but I get distracted by all that nonsense. I guess what I'm looking for is non-spiritual yoga. Thanks.

Hello all! I'm new here and have been a member for a month or so but this is my first time postgin, I'll stop in the introduction section a bit later and post more but for now I have a question. When doing circuit training would you all recommend eating before or after the workout, or does that depend on the goal of the work out? I've been doing cardio training for the past year and a half and I've dropped about 65lbs but now I'm looking to build muscle. Now that being said I'm still running and doing cardio training but I've added circuit training to the mix 2-3 days a week. That being said I generally do my crcuit training on an empty stomach because that was what I was doing to burn fat with the cardio traing however my primary goal with the circuit training is to build muscle and burn a little fat but I feel kind of weak when I do circuit on an empty stomach so I'm not sure that I'm getting the maximum effeciency out of my workout. Should I eat a high protein meal or have a shake and hour or so before working out or should I continue to do it on an empty stomach and then eat? Or should I eat before hand, workout and eat some more?

Hello all, I am new here but not new to trying to lose weight. Since I was a little kid my family forced fed me to make me fatter, thinking fatter is healthier. Wow, right? As I grew older, obviously my stomach was huge and I had very difficult time eating less. I joined a few gyms, but always lost the motivation when i didn't see results fast. I once asked my good friend if he believed I will ever lose the weight, he said he doesn't believe so because I am a super lazy man. To be honest, that hurt me a lot but I appreciated his honesty. I somehow knew deep inside that he was wrong and that I was only lazy because I was obese but did not know where to start. When I turned 25, I weighed 325, and I decided that enough is enough and something has to change. I always wanted to be in shape and I knew I wanted to be stronger and more energized but it took me a while to learn that food is not my best friend, especially when I am sitting on my ass all day. I started making my meals smaller which helped me shrink my stomach, meaning I get full faster. After about a month, I developed enough motivation to join the gym again and actually started going there for a change. I finally was determined to change myself to the healthier more energized version of me. I started by going to the gym every other day for about an hour to do full-body workouts. I have been working out(mostly machines with heavy weight levels) for about 11 months now and I am VERY PROUD to announce that today I officially have lowered my body weight to 225 lbs(100 lbs loss, with a lot more fat than that lost, but hey I got bigger muscles now).. I plan on bringing my weight down about 45 more pounds. Now I go to the gym about 4-5 times a week for about an hour to an hour and a half each time depending on how tired I am from my regular job. So far I went from wearing pants size 50 to pants size 38. I used to wear XXXL shirts, now I wear XL, sometimes I even find Large shirts that fit me well. I am much stronger and can move a lot faster and more often than I used to. I still got a long way to go, but this is for sure something worth celebrating. I don't plan on stopping what I'm doing ever. It takes some motivation, keeping that motivation over time and pair it with strong determination to become healthier. Trust me, if I can believe in myself after what I been through and do it without anybody's help, then anybody can do it. I still got a long way before I can walk shirtless on the beach, but at least I am 100 lbs closer than I was a year ago. My goal is that by next summer, I want to have no more than 10% body fat.

Well, hello friends! I have a familiar story... overweight most of my life, didn't play sports, wasn't very active (though, I could play the heck out of the playground!), battled self-image issues, tried a few things with no success, and was genuinely unhappy when it came to all things body-related. It's not all depressing though - I have learn to compensate in other areas of my life - a strong sense of self, a dark and twisted sense of humour, and a huge amount of creativity being the primary ones. A little bit more about my story... about three years ago, I discovered roller derby and fell IN LOVE. Coming from my background, it has been a huge physical and emotional challenge (still is most days). Now I am going into my second year on skates. I skate about four hours a week (mostly on the weekends). I haven't lost any weight - though, I know I have increased muscle mass - especially in my legs. I have started to morph into a T-Rex. I have this MASSIVE LEGS AND THIGHS... and itty-bitty arms. I am not well-rounded at all. Plus, add in the fact, that my energy is almost non-existent and I feel really slow compared to a lot of my team mates. After having a less than stellar rookie season, I have decided that this year will be different. After 38 years, I wanna drive my own evolution. My issue lays mostly with my diet. It's crap. I have portion control issues and emotional eating issues. I know that diet has been and will always be my biggest struggle. I am analyzing my plan of action. I was a terrible vegetarian for a number of years (substituted meat with pasta) and I don't have the fortitude (or inclination, frankly) to adopt the Paleo lifestyle (a number of my team mates have with great success though). I want to try an maintain a balanced diet (perhaps using the Canadian Food Guide - maybe?). But it will be tricky because I can talk myself out of anything. I'm a jerk sometimes. Battling the voices will be my toughest challenge! I have decided to focus on small steps and small goals instead of a magic number that comes off the scale. Small goals like maintaining a consistent food log and exercise log. And then creating a bigger goal for ever six month - the current one being participating in a Spartan race in August. It will help me to keep focused with something concrete and something that will happen instead of some obscure number. If I don't train or eat better, that Spartan race is going to kick my butt and I really don't want that to happen. And if a side effect is some weight-loss, feeling better when I play roller derby, and improving my game, then THUMBS UP! At any rate, I'm excited to be here. I dig the site and this forum seems to be a pretty fantastic place too!

Hi Rebels! I consider myself a bad sleeper. I'm generally fitful, waking up multiple times at night, only to roll over and fall back asleep in a couple minutes. Still, it has had terrible effects on my energy levels during the day, and I find myself considerably unproductive some days. I'm a fairly light sleeper, and I'm especially bad at sleeping with someone else in the bed, and have my worst days after sleeping with a partner (but that's not gonna stop me from doing it). I'll admit, a lot of my sleep problems are my fault. I developed the habit of falling asleep watching TV while back in high school, and have been unable to shake it. Now, I usually put on a re-run of one of my favorite TV shows in order to help me fall asleep. I know this doesn't help, but otherwise I find myself lying in bed thinking about this and that and this for hours. So, having stumbled upon this extremely supportive and informed community of nerds and fitness freaks, I've come to ask you for suggestions on how to get rid of my bad sleeping habit, and perhaps improve the restfulness of my sleep so I can get things done during the day.