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Hello from New Jersey! I'm a twentysomething female who's just returned from living abroad. I didn't have access to a lot of healthy food (and definitely no gyms) so I put on quite a bit of weight. Now that I'm home and have a new perspective on all of the awesome resources around me, I want to make some major changes. I joined this site because I want to find some accountability for my fitness goals. My current measurements: 5'2" 140 lbs. My goal: 5'2" (nothing I can do about that, haha) 120 lbs. by my birthday in September. The method: Paleo hybrid diet (I don't eat red meat, so I need to tweak it and see what works), HIIT, basic bodyweight strength training. It seems like a lot to change, and it's a bit overwhelming to jump right in. I realized as soon as I changed my diet, I wasn't getting as much out of my workouts. Any advice? I'm always looking for more fitness-oriented friends!

Sooo... I actually began posting a challenge thread a couple times, then didn't finish. Shame on me. Part of it I blame on being overwhelmed with the end of the semester, part of it I blame on general laziness and lack of inertia, and part of it I blame on my boyfriend. Fortunately, the semester is over and with Tough Mudder on the horizon I have gotten moving again. I'm even working on the boyfriend. I asked him to go completely paleo with me and he got all waffley/noncommittal-y. I got so discouraged I completely gave up on the entire challenge post I was writing. Boo on him for not being supportive, boo on me for not going through with it anyways despite him. Now I decided, even though I'm hella late, that I'm just going to post one anyways. I need something to keep me accountable. Starting May 2nd, exactly one month before I run Tough Mudder (June 2), I am abiding by the following rules: Rule ONE: Eating 100% paleo (or as near to it as possible. That shiz is hard!). Due to a couple events coming up, I'm allowing two necessary exceptions. The first is the day of Rugged Maniac (tomorrow!) because I think after running a 5k muddy obstacle course I deserve to indulge a little on beer and festival food. The second is my friend's wedding, which I am in. We are going out of town for the weekend for the wedding, and there will be much food, drinking, and debauchery to be had. With that in mind, I will try to make more intelligent food decisions while there. Sub-goal: Absolutely NO going out to drink for the month (with the obvious aforementioned exceptions). Having a drink or two with dinner at home is acceptable, since I don't do it every night and I rarely drink more than one at home before falling asleep. Also trying to restrict this to wine and vodka sodas. Rule TWO: Stick to the ol' workout regime. Mon/Wed/Fri run, Tues/Thurs/Sat weights Maybe Mudder Boot Camp. Sunday is rest. Added subgoal: Sub-goal: Rule THREE: Every day, do assisted pull-ups. No more wimpy noodle arms. Rule THREE: Time to activate beast mode and get outside my comfort zone. Initially, my entire challenge was going to be focused around beast mode, but obviously I have deviated. This goal was also going to be to sign up for and attend some type of martial arts class once a week, however money has gotten a little tight so re-vamping this one. New goal: Add one new bodyweight/calisthenic workout per weight day. It's about time I try something new and up my agility. Day one will probably be burpees, since I've never really done them as part of a workout. This sounds really simple, but doing new unfamiliar workouts is really difficult for me, I have serious anxiety about doing something wrong or looking like an idiot. I will probably start working through and learning the exercises from the Tough Mudder Bootcamp, although suggestions are always welcome. (Adding Maybe Mudder boot camp to rule two kinda negated this one.) Rule FOUR: I also have a lot of social anxiety, which I only seem to be able to overcome through alcohol. There has to be ways to meet people outside of work and bars, it's about time I learn. Over the next month I am taking part in at least two athletic events, and I need to start striking up conversations and making friends. One new friend per event is passing, with a bonus for keeping in contact with them afterwards. I need to surround myself with healthy, active people. So, better late than never, and I'm going to go ahead and run my challenge through to June 2, since I am not really officially participating anyways.

Hi NF Rebels! I'm Monica, new to the group. I'm super excited to have found this awesome group. I have been working on making improvements in my life for about 2 months now but without any real support system or accountability. I'm really happy to have found such a great place to not only fill that void, but it looks like it will be a lot of fun too! A little about me, I am 28 and female. Have been living in California about a year and a half. I work as much as 70 hours a week sometimes, so haven't had a lot of time to work on ME. But I am working to find time now. I have been overweight my whole life although in the last few years it certainly has become more of a problem. My career is finally starting to look like it is on track and I am finding two things. One, no matter how successful I am I will not be happy until I am healthier. Two, my opportunities will increase if I LOOK like I have my life under control. As sucky as it is, my weight has limited my opportunities to grow in my career I feel as well. I have an understanding boss who is willing to work gym time into my work time. So the time to start is NOW. Thanks for listening to me ramble... I tend to do that a lot

Brass Here! As of monday past I have started my routine/eating. My diet hasn't been too perfect, but my portions have been good. On monday I built a routine using a couple articles from here, but afterwards found that it wasn't challenging enough. As I mentioned in my introductory (did I? I'm not sure I did...) I have been going to the gym since December. I have yet to see amazing results because I can't stick to a routine. One week I go hard, the next I make it once, maybe twice. I have seen a great difference in my overall look however the scale, and my inches, betray that Anyway long story short, I think starting at the bottom now isn't good enough, because I'm actually doing quite well in the endurance and stamina department so I challenging routine is what I need. At my gym they have a weight lifting class. I hate to admit it, but I'm very nervous about going to the free weights part of the gym. Usually its filled with 30-40 giant males who like to stare at themselves in the mirror for 80% of it, and then stare at me while I walk by to the classroom. Now I find the weight lifting class boring sometimes, but as I've been reading its about the routine, the quality of it, and not about the fun. Workout sadly will not be fun all of the time, but if I stick to it and begin to get results, it'll be worth the boredom. So tonight I do Body Pump, the weight lifting class as well as a jog with my cousin (we're preparing for a marathon or two). After all that blah blah blah I'm going to run to the class, and add on my schedule when I get back! Stay tuned, and thanks for reading this far if you're still here

Okay, SO...the last challenge didn't go so well as towards the end of it I got pretty overwhelmed with stress due to some family stuff. This time around, if it happens again I'll continue with it and not just give up because the stress of everything around me. Also! I managed to get my boyfriend ( http://nerdfitnessrebellion.com/index.php?/topic/27313-sindrals-first-adventure ) to join in on the rebellion, though it took some bribing with pizza. SO YEAH, it might be a lot more fun and maybe easier if things do get stressful, just because I'll know he's doing this challenge along with me. Another reason I absolutely NEED to do well on this one is because I absolutely hate when I score low on something. When I'm determined I really beat myself up over something if I don't do as well as I'd hoped. The only thing I managed to do well for the last challenge before giving up was the no soda thing. I unfortunately had like maybe 2 cans that entire challenge, which even for me was too much and I felt horrible about it. Once was when I went to an Easter get together with my boyfriend and I ended up having a can because I didn't notice they had water. The second was when I had a migraine when I was visiting, and ended up having a can since I was told caffeine would help. ANYWAY, I'm rambling! ONTO THE CHALLENGE STUFFS! Goal 1: Eating around 1250-1500 calories a day, as well as having at least 1 vegetarian meal a week. (I'll also continue with cutting out soda, as I still had about 2 cans last challenge) (Con. +3) A: No slip ups B: One or two slip ups C: Four slip ups F: Five or more slip ups Goal 2: Run or walk at least 3 days out of the week for 20-30 minutes. (Str. +3, Sta. +4) A: 100% (3+ times per week) B: 85% (2 times per week) C: 75% (1 time per week) F: 25% (0 times per week) Goal 3: Do 160+ sit-ups by the end of the challenge. (As well as doing the sit-ups AT LEAST 4 times a week. More if I can. (Sta. +2) A: 160 or more B: 140 C: 115 D: 90 F: 50 or less Goal 4: Life Goal: Learn 3 words a day in Italian. AND renewing my CPR license. (Wis. +3) A: 126+ words AND rewnewing CPR license. (only 100% if I complete both goals. Only completing one, but not following through with the other automatically is a B or lower.) B: 126 words (but not renewing license) C: 80 words (and not renewing license) D: 30 words (and not renewing license) F: 20 or less words (and not renewing license)

"There can be miracles when you believe. Though hope is frail, it's hard to kill. Who knows what miracles you can achieve? When you believe, somehow you will." The Curly-Haired Warrior turns up her ipod tunage, ties her running shoes tight and takes a last swig of water. She's about to go hard. She ain't going nowhere but up, and she certainly isn't going home (until she's tired). This is her first full challenge, and she's determined to make it a good one. GOALS: 1. fuel the body. Eat a minimum of one portion of vegetables for lunch and dinner two portions of veg per day. [changed because of mini-challenge 1] doesn't include potatoes."portion" = at least the size of my fist.Final score = /42 STA 2 / CON 2 2. use the fuel. feel the burn. a) jog/ stumble/ crawl the 5k route in my local park at least once each week and record time. improve time each week twice by the end of the challenge (suggested by GoodDoug) anything counts as long as I don't walk the whole thing.Grading a) A = 5/6, B = 4/6, C = 3/6, D = 2/6 A = 2/2, B = 1/2 Minimum for each part must be met for each grade boundary (so to get a B overall I must improve at least once) STA 2 / DEX 1 / STR 1 3. you can't put petrol in a diesel car. stick to my food elimination diet plans. During the majority of this challenge I'm going to be doing a pretty (ok very, extremely, crazily) strict food elimination diet. It seems to be pretty daft not to include this as part of my challenge. [starts 22/4/13] Every meal eaten in accordance with the food elim diet = 1 tick. Total /105 A = 100%, B = 97%, C = 95%, D = 92%. It's a food elimination diet. I can't mess this up! CON 4 4. count the pennies. levelling up my life one pound at a time. Week 1: record groceries bought and the cost of each. List everything, paying particular attention to any foods that get thrown away. Week 2: set a reasonable budget based on findings. Stick to it. Carry on recording. Week 3: review budget and change accordingly. Week 4: plan meals for week and only buy what I've planned for. drop budget by 10% Week 5: plan meals as before. drop (original) budget by 20%. compare food prices of market, health shops, supermarkets etc. Week 6: get smart. using findings, plan not just what to buy, but where from. drop budget by 30%. A = all stages followed, budget decreased by 30% B = all stages followed, budget decreased by 20% C = more than 3 stages followed, budget decreased by 10% D = at least 4 stages followed but no budget decrease F = budget increase (!); less than 4 stages followed WIS 3 READY TO POUND THE PAVEMENT. LET'S DO THIS.

I'm in a rut. I have a history of ups and downs, and I'm in a down right now. I think what has kept me from staying mostly up is my lack of self-discipline and structure. I have done a lot of drifting from place to place, hoping to find where I belong. I have finally figured out that I must make goals, plans, and definite decisions in order to "level up" instead of subsisting and moving laterally. To help myself begin to feel better physically, mentally, and spiritually in order to become a whole and functioning individual, I have made these goals: 1. Eat a serving of vegetables daily with the option of fruit. I'm one of those bread, meat, and cheese eaters (please don't judge!). The vegetables I normally get are on my burgers. I don't dislike vegetables and fruits, I just have the ingrained habit to immediately go for my comfort foods (depression?). Maybe one day I will go paleo, who knows? 2. Get at least 15 minutes of aerobic exercise daily. This can be bike riding (weather permitting), jogging, or dancing around the house. I need to be more active and work up a sweat to get my energy levels up. 3. Limit myself to 1 sugary item per day. This will most likely translate to one 12 oz. soda for me since I've become a soda enthusiast. This means if I want a dessert item, no soda. 4. Read a book at least 30 minutes daily. I have allowed my attention span to wither away via the internet. By setting aside time to focus on reading one thing, I believe I can strengthen my concentration and improve my brain function overall. 5. Devote 10 minutes a day to meditation/prayer. I feel this is important for me to feel centered and at peace with the universe, as corny as that sounds. I really believe it will help me see myself and the world more clearly and truly. Okay, I know I should only have 4 goals as a newbie adventurer, but 1 and 3 kind of tie in to each other, and the time-specific ones add up to less than an hour, so I believe I can stick with these. They probably seem really basic, but that's just where I am right now. I can feel the potential inside myself waiting to burst out and bloom like a beautiful flower, I just have to activate it and then channel it into real-life activity. No more living inside my own head! Wish me luck, and thank you in advance! -Zelmo Swift

It is midnight, I feel gross - overweight, full, sluggish. So tonight I am starting the 6 week challenge and I spontaneously signed up for a 5k run/walk in two days. In case you can't tell, I'm the kind of person who has to just jump in and not over-think things. Even more than losing weight I just want to get in better shape and feel healthier. So here I am, warts and all. I'm ready to change what I can and learn to accept what I can't, and I'm hoping for lots of support to get me going. Thanks and Toodles, Shned

Day One: Wednesday, March 13, 2013 Technically, this isn't Day One at NerdFitness for me. That was last Sunday. But this is close enough. DIET: Instead of recording everything I eat (because I'll forget and it's a pain in the ***) I'm going to record whenever I break Paleo. Since I'm still easing into it, I'm going to allow myself three meals to eat basically what I want every week, and I won't freak over minor lapses. For now. Dinner: Baked potato. That may or may not be Paleo, I'm not really sure. Snacks: I had one cracker at Mock Trial practice. Totally not worth it. EXERCISE: I'm still sore from doing the Angry Birds workout yesterday, so I didn't do much today. Note for tomorrow: I REALLY need to stretch. Slow Kicks: Note: I'm having a lot more trouble doing these with the right leg than the left leg. That's a goal right there--to have them both be the same strength. Hook-Round-Side: 2 x 10, both legs Snap: 2 x 10, both legs SLEEP: I'm recording this too because sleep really helps with losing weight. Or at least, sleep deprivation increases chances of obesity. So spake my Psych class. Time in bed: 11:50 pm Time to wake up tomorrow: 6 am

Hi everyone I am currently training for the zombie apocalypse, because who isnt afraid of that and because it is more fun than training for a half marathon or survival of the fittest competition My current work outs are burpees, sit up, bodyweight squats and pressups each morning adding one more each exercise days (i do three days on, one day rest on a cycle). the rest of my workout consists of interval training or practicising sprinting varying differences without a warm up (because the zombies wont give you a warning). I am able to do all the exercises, with varying levels of grace though, even managing 7 pulls up then 7 chin ups in a row I am also training for running with a backpack and looking to start archery once my university starts its classes again My goal is to get to doing a prisoner's set of all the exercises above; for those of you who dont know what that is it is 20 then 19 then 18 etc of push ups, then burpees, sit ups, pull ups and body weight squats Unfortunately no one i know likes being healthy. My family isnt very helpful, mother just out of operation, father has slowed down since his thirties now that he is back in a long term relationship (and he is two counties away), step father is an worryingly overweight and my girlfriend suffers from depression so her motivation exists in some nether region where it occassionally comes by to visit. this is the reason that i am joining nerd fitness, and because i like the idea of the levelling up system although ive altered it a bit for myself levelling up for me doesnt just mean seeing a monument or doing some cliche piece of recognition it is something that has developed you as a person which is why i have already gone through the events of my life and found 11 that i found gave me a sense of being more than i was previously. I still have over 55 separate things i want to do and looking forward to adding to my list that i never thought i would do. So if you have any questions, want to offer any suggestions or have any ideas for good workouts for the zombie apocalypse please give me a shout - however a small note i am very thin (by choice) and like to keep it that way so suggestions on how to bulk up or do bodybuilding exercises will be read but not taken with that much consideration. Got to do what makes you happy --------- Workout info for week one Part 1 1. 100m run at 10kph (increase by 0.5 per set), 25 kettlebell squats with 12 kg weight, 10 box jumps, 5 pull ups, 10 push ups DO THIS FIVE TIMES 2. 1km run at 12.5kph, burpee to box jump x 10, 10 kettlebell squats with 12 kg weight, vipr crawl 10m with 12 kg vipr, 4 pull ups 3. Row 1km, 20 pushups, 20 trx rows (10 low row and 10 upper back), 20 overhead squats Run 500m, do half of exercises Row 250m, do half again Part 2 1. 100m run at 10.5 same rules, 30 kettlebell squats (15 each arm, same weight), 12 box jumps, 6 pull up, 12 press ups DO five times 2. Run 1km at 13kph, 13 burpee to box jump, 14 kettlebell squats, vipr crawl 10m, 6 pullups 3. Row 1.2km, 28 pressups, 28 trx rows 28 overhead squats same rules of half

So, I did moderately okay (read: severely average) on my first challenge, but I did finish it and I'm back at it again. Most of my success last challenge was on the exercise portion of my goals (running, really), so this time around I'm really going to focus in on changing my diet through a couple steps. First: Track all the things. [+2 WIS, +2 CON] I will be using MFP to track calories and macronutrients to ensure I'm getting the right amount daily. Using this article, my diet goals are (roughly) as follows: Calories - 1300, Protein - 110g, Carbs - 80g, Fats - 60g. Second: Control your drinking, woman! [+2 WIS, +2 CON] This goal is twofold. First, I will be making sure I'm drinking enough water throughout the day, with a total goal of 96 oz. a day. I think we all know the health benefits of being properly hydrated, so I won't get into that. The second part is that I will limit myself to three alcoholic beverages a night, only twice a week. This is going to be the hard one, being a waitress that works nights; drinking is part of our culture. Also, since I'm staying conscious of carbs and calorie intake, I'm going to have to be extra careful on those days. Likely I won't be drinking anything other than wine or vodka-sodas for the next six weeks. Then we get into the other stuff: Third: Exercise. Just do it <insert Nike swoosh>. [+2 STR, +2 STA] Pretty simple. Keep up with my workout plan. Mon - run, Tues - weights, Wed - sprints, Thurs - weights, Fri - run, Sat - bonus weights (optional). As long as I exercise five times a week, every week, I win! Fourth: Clean your damn room. [+1 WIS, +1 CHA, +1 CON] Well, really your whole damn house. When I get really busy with work, and school, and working out, and having a life, I tend to stop cleaning. I also live with a boy, who by his nature doesn't clean. I also have a dog and two cats, who not only don't clean but also make lots of messes. Come to think of it, so does the boy. Do one significant cleaning thing a day, whether it's a load of laundry (which includes putting it away, slacker), load of dishes, picking up a room, washing the dog, etc. Doesn't have to be huge, or take long, but it has to be done. The attribute points seem a little funny, but I swear there's a reason. Wisdom seems pretty obvious, Charisma is so I can have a clean house to have guests over, and Constitution because having a cleaner house will reduce my stress which will make me more healthy, less prone to getting sick. Starting Line Measurements: Bust: 36'' Waist: 30.5'' Hip: 41.5'' Thigh: 24'' Arm: 12'' Weight: 150 lbs. Cleaning Chores (not all need to be completed by end of six weeks, but just to give me some direction): Daily Maintenance Dishes Laundry Trash Clean litter boxes Weekly Maintenance Dust/Sweep Clean snake tank/feed snake Wash dog Random Chores Organize jewelry (ordered over-the-door full length mirror with jewelry armoire inside today) Organize closet/shoes - bag unwanted stuff to donate Buy decent dresser for bedroom Pack up things for donation - drop off Organize bookshelf/DVDs/games in "Baby Weird Room" (we have these two too-big-to-be-closets but too-small-to-be-rooms areas in the house: "The Weird Room" and the "Baby Weird Room" -- pretty much storage space) Deep clean kitchen - reorganize cabinets - scrub counters - scrub floor Projects Empty file cabinet - get hanging file folders - organize important documents in files -- If BF keeps being funky about letting me use the file cabinet for files, go buy my own file cabinet Build wooden cover for pool table (so cats will stop peeing on it!) Build shelves in hall closet for toiletries/linens Clean and prep back yard to plant herbs and veggies And we're off!

Hello Scouts and welcome to the Teamwork "Challenge" for this 6 Week Challenge. So the Evil Dr. Slowpoke has invented a device (what is it with evil doctors and inventing devices?) that let's him travel at incredible rates of speed and he's challenged us to a race around the world. He's convinced noone can beat him in a race around the world, and he's decided that to prove it he's going to start blowing up small countries and medium sized kittens until someone faces him. We can't have that at all so we Scouts have banded together using our ancient Scouting techniques we shall defeat him and save all those poor kittens and countries. We Scouts will be using magics of our own however, so every minute of exercise will propel our Magical Scout Tour Bus a whole mile around the Earth, pretty good return if I do say so. We will be tracking our travels around the world on this spreadsheet, https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Avkw1YHdX0rNdElKd1dpWEFpdWMtbEJucE52OVQwMlE#gid=0 All you have to do is add a line for yourself and then each week track how many minutes of exercise you do. It's 24,901 miles around the World, so let's get going, and we are gonna need all the help we can get so if you show up late please help us out, the teleporter in the bus will pick you up anywhere, just stick your thumb out like a good hitchhiker. We can do this, think of the kittens! Operational Note: Time on this will be tracked from midnight Monday morning whatever your local time is to Midnight Sunday night whatever your local time is for each week. While we may be traveling around the world we will be too busy to adjust our watches.

Goals 1. Improve Swimming: Sta +4 Improve number of laps done at once to 16 laps breaststroke (25m pool so this is half a pool mile). Starting point is 11 laps. (A = 16+, B=15, C=14, D=13 F <= 12) 2. Slow Carb Diet: Con +4 I will follow the Slow Carb Diet for most of the challenge (I have not done well yet as it is day three and I was still deciding on goals before I came to this one) I will make a post about my interpretation and diet here in a bit. Every Deviation from the diet counts as a demerit. (A <=5, B <=10, C<=15, D <=20) A demerit can be assigned once per meal or snack. Free days don't count to demerits and they occur on Sunday. As of today I am at 3 demerits. 3. Compile Recipes: Wis + 3 To keep up with the diet goals, I need to get my meals, shopping etc all in order. To do this I need to compile all my go-to recipes so that I know the ingredients to put on the shopping list. (All or None on this one, It should take me a week to get the initial workup, and then the collecting of recipes over the next 6 weeks) Life Goal: Skill building Cha + 4 This is the junk drawer of goals, there are a lot of things I need to work on over the next little bit. So this will be a point system based goal. The Goal is to reach 40 points for the challenge. The things I do are listed below with their point values. Finish one module for a certification for work(a good number remain): 3 points each Create on illustration or visual project for myself: 3 points each Complete a design project for others (1 pending): 10 points Complete the organization in one room in the house (bedroom, main room, kitchen): 5 points each Complete one section in writing an adventure book: 10 points

Hello everyone! Alright, so my story is on my profile page so I won't clutter this thread with the whole thing, but to make it short; I was obese, got in-shape, got sick and back to obese again, and am now trying to get back into shape while juggling being a husband, father, student, and working. I took the beginners routine and modified it a bit, then put some interval training as well as some exercise classes and a bit of weightlifting. I'm also going to do some portion controlling of my food, limiting calorie intake and how much is allowed on my plate (cutting down meats, raising up veggies, etc.). Current Stats: Height: 6'0" Weight: 295 Currently able to complete: 10 Full Push-Ups 40 Crunches 0 Pull-Ups 20 Seconds of Planks Yep, I'm not in the very good condition (especially compared to when I was in-shape). I've taken a picture of myself now and will take one at the end and hopefully there will be some sort of difference, lol. Six Week Challenge: Diet Goals: (+1 to CHA, +3 to CON) Eat a max of 2000 calories a day. Eat at least one side of fruits/vegetables a day. 1 "rest day" a week where I can hit 3500 calories. Level Up My Life Goal: (+ 3 to STA) Spend more time outside of the house (parks, walking around the mall, etc.). At least 1 hour every other day (excluding Sundays). Fitness Goals: (+2 to STR, DEX, STA, CHA) Complete the following exercise routines: Mon/Wed/Fri: 1 Set: Jumping Jacks: 30 Squats: 30 Push-Ups: 10 Crunches: 20 Reverse Crunches: 20 Plank: 20-Seconds Tue/Thu/Sat: Interval Training: 5 Minutes of light walking. 5 Sets of: 30 seconds of increased pace. 2 minutes of decreased pace. 5 minutes of light jogging and stretching. I'm sure this could be better, and advice is welcome. I've put a lot of research into this but I also know there's always those with more info/experience than me. - Armored Gallant

Wow! Finally figured out how to post something...lol. When I say Newbie all around, I really mean it. I've never joined a group on line, let alone one that you needed to be involved in. When I stumbled onto this site while researching the Paleo diet, I was blown away! Someone finally understood that there are so many of us out here that don't know the first thing about becoming healthier and making it a lifestyle, not just a three week stint. Thank you so much! Today was my first day doing the Angry Birds workout. It was invigorating. I can't wait to hit it again and log my progress. But what I really want to do is follow in the footsteps of Staci. Granted she is a bit younger than me, but I feel motivated enough to get this done. I just turned 41 and quit smoking 4 months ago. I tried to watch what I ate, but gained 15 pounds anyway. Let me just say that it is not a pleasure looking in the mirror, yet. But I plan on changing that in a big way. My goal is to wear a bikini without a cover up, to finally wear shorts in the summer and to look like I'm 10 years younger than I am. I also want to eliminate all the "bad" foods from my diet. I have already started t eliminate gluten and am working on the sugary stuff. I've done a fairly good job of getting rid of processed foods. I do have to concede on some things or my 15 year old son will rebel. But I am slowly getting him onboard this healthier lifestyle. Well, I'm heading out to walk the dog and plan dinner tonight.

Well It's kind of funny right? I'm actually pretty average, 20 year old female 5'5". I feel smaller though, and seem to be constantly looking up at people. Weight doesn't really matter to me, but pants size does. Currently 12 CAN, hopefully down by one or 2 at the end of the challenge. Anyway, goals: Paleo diet: 80%. Right now I think I've got it to 65-70% ish on a good day. My breakfasts are usually paleo, but I want to work harder at waiting until cheat day to indulge in homemade brownies and the like. Go for a walk every day: 20 minutes at least. This one should be relatively easy as I have obtained a job and have to walk 5km just to get there. Still, I think it would be good to walk even on days where I don't have to be outside. Exercise in the morning: At least one rep of the beginner body weight workout, after breakfast but before shower (I try to eat breakfast within half an hour of waking, which is hard enough when I have to cook it let alone trying to work out and shower first). Or 3 full reps every other day 3 days a week. Read a book for an hour every day: This one shouldn't be too hard either as I love reading, I've just been replacing that time with computer usage. I need to be on the computer less, so this is basically a "Stop being on the computer so gosh darned much" goal. Little goals, all (hopefully) leading up to a happier & healthier me. And just for fun~ Attribute Points to be Gained: Strength (STR) - 4 (goals 2&3)Dexterity (DEX) - 1 (goal 2)Stamina (STA) - 3 (goals 1&3)Constitution (CON) - 2 (goal 1)Wisdom (WIS) - 3 (goals 2&4)Charisma (CHA) - 2 (goals 1-4) Day 1 so far~ Walked younger sister to school (no bbww today, but tomorrow.)Walked to and from work, total 10kmPaleo Breakfast & Lunch - leftover chili (+ 1 homemade brownie & a mouthful of a fruit smoothie, because I forgot the challenge started today)I'm going to get off the computer now to continue reading one of the books I've stuck bookmarks in. Edit~ Ended up falling asleep after all the excitement today. Chicken paprikash for supper, with rice. Another brownie (shame on me but they're good). Didn't cave to my soda-pop craving yay. Gotta drink more water though.

So I'm thinking about starting free weights tomorrow. I figure using my "off days" to work on pullups, abs and free weights might be a good way to keep me busy and improving. My "workout days" I stick to the Beginner Body Weight routine, and I have been increasing on the number of each exercise. I want to improve, hopefully by the end of next week, to doing 50 of everything. At that point, instead of increasing how much I do the exercises, I will start to increase the amount of times I do them. For instance I'm doing 3 sets of everything, as stated in the video/blog. When I reach my goal of "50s" I want to start going to 4 sets. Does this sound like a good plan? And on my "off days" as I said I would like to get in some free weights, as well as other off days get in some pullup improvements. Here's what I plan my schedule to some-what look like: Monday: Body Weight Routine Tuesday: Pullup increase Wednesday: Body Weight Routine Thursday: Free Weight Routine (minimal) Friday: Body Weight Routine+ Max out on each exercise. Saturday: Rest and Recovery Sunday: Soft Cardio (ie. biking/swimming) Some random days may include Hiking, as that is something my whole family very much enjoys, and as soon as the weather allows we plan to start hiking off and on again. This sounds like a busy and possibly difficult schedule with little time to recover, but keep in mind the body weight routines generally take no more than 20 to 30 minutes, allowing the rest of the day of R&R if needed. The pullup routines I plan on doing last no more than 10 to 15 minutes, and I plan on spending no more than 20 to 25 minutes in the gym doing free weight routines. As for the soft cardio day, I think of it as a "kickstart" day to get me back into the mood of things after a full day off, doing something that is very easy on the joints in order to let them rest while also giving myself a little work. So basically what I want to know is, does this schedule sound good? If so, what free weights should I start on? Does it sound bad? If so, how should I "tweak" it in order for it to be good? Hope to hear back soon, and thank you to all in advance for any advice you can offer!

Hey all, I just stumbled across the forums whilst developing a nerdish work-out regiment and I was delighted to find that the RL-RP system dovetails beautifully with what I've got planned. If you've got any suggestions, propositions or additions to my workout game I'd love to have them (feel free to skip past the crap about bettering myself and move right on to the bold, dice rolling workout section!). Well, I've always been a fat kid, not really socially awkward but still into general nerdery (i.e. gaming, comics, learning, grammar, and various collecting), generally I fit in as well as any fat kid can. I weighed quite a lot in my sophomore year of high school and got into a weight-loss program with my mom which left me fairly happy with my weight by the time I graduated. College went well aside from mound of financial aid I accrued. I graduated with a Bachelors degree in Psychology and am currently a writer, putting almost none of my schooling to use, while making no money. Luckily I'm married, my wife works part time as a banker at Wells Fargo and is currently in her Senior year of college. While I enjoyed school intellectually I went from a Large shirt to a 2X; soon to be outgrown, you might say I gave birth to a big-ol' fat-ass degree and now I'm tore up from the floor up. A friend of mine introduced me to Magic: The Gathering in college and I started frequenting tournaments at game shops; always curious about D&D I picked it up about 7 months ago wherein I was sucked into the vacuum of the game. I participate in 4 campaigns a week and have a strange love for the dice that I can't really explain to the point that I've been attempting to integrate them into everyday situations; selecting numbered on my wife's homework to help with, deciding how many beers I get, activity gambling with a friend. Now that I'm self-employed and large as ever I thought that there might be no better time to try to get into shape than now; as I've tried in the past and lacked stick-to-itiveness I thought employing the dice would make the activities enjoyable. I'd like to lose weight, eat better, and be more active whilst maintaining my love for Whiskey, and Meat! Dice Roll Workout In the past I've attempted to workout without being able to stick to it, I've acquired an elliptical, a Kiect for the Xbox as well as the Wii Fit so, I'm hoping to put them all to use through my somewhat unhealthy fascination with dice. So here's the plan (also why I love this RL-RP system), the exercises and reps/time will be adjusted as I become better at exercising and as I level up, i.e. die sizes will increase as will the modifiers associated with them. I'f you have input on good low-impact, at-home exercises I would greatly appreciate them (I'm really open to suggestions because I haven't a clue how to work out) but the gist of working out is this: After an Extended Rest Roll 1d6+(mod)-----This is the number of exercises I will complete today (D) (may increase to 2d4) Consecutively Exercise may be completed in 1 of 2 waysIntervals throughout a session/dayTo calculate intervals--- (E-S)/D Where E=end of session/day and S=Beginning of session/dayActivities: Set alarm to correspond to time intervals or roll after each workout in continuous session Roll 1d20 I can't seem to get the table to post but if you care to look I've attached it as a word doc. Dice Roll Workout Table.doc

I actually signed up for NF awhile back but had a lot of stuff come up so I left for a while. I'm back again, though, and am read to go! Here's an abridgment of my story: I was obese most of my life, never exercised, sat down all day, and ate awful (lots of fast food, instant noodles, canned meat, etc.) I tried exercising sometimes, but nothing jived well with me. I moved to a new city and stumbled across an exercise class that, for once, I actually really enjoyed and became gung-ho about exercising. I started doing nearly everything I could including various aerobics, dances, Pilates and so on. I was exercising an average of 2-4 hours a day and dropped about 70lbs over a year, but I still ate just as badly (if not worse). Eventually, this caught up to me and I fell ill (the actual reasons are still a mystery, but I suspect overexercising/awful eating was the source) and was pretty much bedridden for about 3 months. I did a 30-day detox where I went raw vegan and took herbal supplements, which actually did help me recover. However, I never quite got back into a good routine of exercising so I gained all that weight back. I did start eating healthier though and noticed a huge difference in my energy and mood when I ate organic foods at home and when I ate fast food. So, here I am now, trying to get back into shape again but balancing eating healthy with exercising, but with higher quality and less time. I'd rather do 30 min to an hour of good, healthy, intense exercising that will get me into shape than what I was doing before of 2-4 hours where I was burning myself out. I'd like to be a better ranger-type as 1) my previous skill set fits well with it (I was good at a wide variety of things, but a master of very few) and 2) Aragorn is one of my favorite characters, so being a ranger like him (though impossible IRL) is a cool idea. Any tips or advice for me? Thankfully with nutrition, I'm pretty knowledgable and will be able to do well there. However, with exercising outside of classes, I'm not really sure what to do. I tried walking 2-3 miles a day, but I got shin splints and had to stop for a couple of weeks. I have almost zero idea what to do with weights. I'm in need of tips and advice with exercises. I did read some articles from NF and have set some things up from what I got from them as well as still doing some classes. Here's the workout regiment I'm planning on doing so far: Mon/Wed/Fri 3 Sets: Squats: 20 Push-Ups: 10 Lunges: 10 Plank: 15-Seconds Jumping Jacks: 30 Increase Per Week (Per set): + 2 Squats + 1 Push Up + 2 Lunges + 2 Seconds to Plank + 2 Jumping Jacks Tue/Thu/Sat: 5 Minutes of light walking. 6 Sets of: 30 seconds of increased pace. 2 minutes of decreased pace. 5 minutes of light jogging and stretching. Increase: + 1 minute per week of light jogging. Classes: Monday/Wednesday: 1 hour of Belly Dance and Yoga (2 hours total). Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday 1 hour of Aerobics. I signed up for a 3-year membership at LA Fitness back before I discovered this site, so I now realize that I've pretty much wasted my money as most things I can do to get into shape are things that I can do outside of the gym. However, I was hoping that there might be some tips people can give me for what kinds of exercises I can do there? I'm unsure as to what I should focus on, more weights, more bodyweight types, less cardio, and so on. I have lessened how much exercising I was doing a day from an average of 2-4 hours to 1-2 hours, but I still don't have weights in there. This is pretty much a rough draft for the exercise portion of the challenge that starts next time. I'll do these routines for now and will listen to advice and tips to modify/add to them.

01/02/13 Started my battle log a day late, mainly since I remembered only today that NF has forums. :-) I'm prepping for the first evern NF 6-week challenge (Rebel Fitness Guide; Level 1 Rookie), beginning on 01/07/13 by eating healthy (teas for breakfast with wheat toast, light salad lunch, chicken and salad for dinners) and getting lots of rest. My extremely hectic schedule calls for rest, or else I won't be successful. PROS- I live less than ten minutes from the gym, and twenty minutes (walking) from work. I won't have an excuse not to work out AND to walk to and from work to squeeze in some extra calorie-burning. CONS- getting healthy and affordable food in Nairobi. Fast food is the easiest option for someone like me who doesn't have a kitchen, which is not an option. So I have to plan my meals on a monthly basis when I can get access to a kitchen to cook. Let's GO!

Okay, I know I'm still new here, but a friend just tossed me this link: http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=98465 and it got me thinking.... The roster for the Justice League... Wouldn't it be cool to band together, in teams spanning the different guilds to form our own "Justice Leagues" for a inter-guild challenge thing? I mean we've got: Green Lantern Wonder Woman Superman Batman The Flash Aquaman Martian Manhunter to name the possible ones for the movie... and that's 7 just like our classes: Warriors Rangers Scouts Monks Assassins Druids Adventurers Not sure how simple or complex this would be, but it just got me thinking. You could set up rounds... like "Take down Lex Luther" and break it down into what each class should be doing to fill their part in taking down the evil super villain or super threat. Anyway, I wasn't sure where to post this, so I just tossed it here. If NF had done something like this in the past, forgive me, I'm still new