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I'm covered up at work so no time for a full challenge write up now. Here's a little peek at the adventures ahead. 1) More training. 2) Less eating (or maybe just eating less) 3) Maintaining my sanity while being away from home for basically 3 weeks for work travel, plus kicking off the summer construction season. I tagged myself with monk eating since losing fat is my main goal. I also tagged with monk mentor. I'm not sure I'm the greatest example of how to succeed at challenges but I've been around a while. I spent some time thinking about actual fleshed out goals today during my class. Goal 1 is going to be training 4 times per week. I would love to get to 5 per week, 3 at Title and 2 lifting but for now I'm shooting for 4. And no getting off the hook for travel. I can do a bodyweight workout if nothing else. Goal 2 is about the food. Week 1 is just going to be "Don't eat like an asshole". I may get more explicit in week 2 or I may just continue not eating like an asshole. Goal 3 from above is still valid. I'm also going to add in reading a book called Drop The Rock. It's a book written for the AA crowd but it talks about letting go of the past and some of the crap we hang on to. The Mrs has wanted me to read it for a while so I'm going to give it a try.

FYI - Log title is a quote from the show from which i also took my name - Battlestar. After all, I am a nerd! Current goals and actions to achieve: Rehab - continue to work on rehabbing my shoulder as a priority. Fat loss - re-dial in diet and continue lifting Flexibility - start some sort of stretching, yoga thing This opening post will contain some past successes, failures etc. I'll fill it in over the next few days and update every so often with new stats/pics etc. The thread will act as record of what i've been doing so i can keep a better track of what does and doesn't work for me. I'll basically treat it like an ongoing challenge. TODO: * 2013 Info and achievements * Early 2014 Info and achievements * Late 2014 Info and achievements * Early 2015 Info and achievements

What a week it has been! I'm glad to be back and I'm really, really excited for this challenge. Although... I have realized there's more I need to do before this weight will come off. I mean, technically, I have lost weight since I joined NF, but I sure hope I can get to where I'm losing more than 5 pounds a year... But first, I need to quit drinking so many calories. Which leads to: I need to learn how to relax, reward myself, comfort myself, nurture myself, have fun, celebrate good times, deal with bad times... without reaching for a wine bottle. It's been hard since I moved here, but I've been here for 3 1/2 years now, and it's time to figure out how to live. Here. Healthily. It's not lost on me that this is the challenge that will move us (or most of us... or some of us, anyway...) from winter to spring. Right now, I only have a couple of plants started, but by the end of the challenge I'll pretty much have the whole garden planted. It's a good time to prepare for a season of growth. To level up this challenge, here's what I need to do: 1. HARDHAT CHALLENGE!!! Yes! I am going 30 days without wine! (I actually started on the 17th. Sorry I didn't say anything. This week was turmoilriffic and I was being a bear. If I had tried to tell you guys about it, all you would have heard was GRRRR.) 2. FIX UP THE BAT BEAR CAVE! Specifically: - (Re)organize my spices. Mix up the blends I'm out of. - Get my loose recipes organized into a binder. - Go through the loose recipes and things saved online and figure out a. what I'm never going to actually try and b. what I should try now-ish because it would be a good fit for my slow carb diet. - Create lists of recipes I know I and my family like, and recipes I want to try. - Try at least 4 new recipes (that work with the slow carb diet.) - Get at least 2 slow cooker dinners bagged up and in the freezer. 3. ...BUT ALSO, GET OUT OF THE CAVE ONCE IN AWHILE! - Learn to use the mass transit here. Specifically, ride the bus twice. Once has to be by myself or just with the kids. - Initiate 4 social events... I don't mean big event events... I just mean, it has to be my idea to hang out with someone. Else. Someone who lives outside the cave. I started on this a bit last challenge, and I need to keep this ball rolling! 4. BREATHE... I wasn't sure how to write this into the challenge, but I do not want to let it slide! I used to do breathing and relaxation exercises regularly, but I've gotten out of the habit as I've been using wine to relax. Time to switch back. So, at bedtime, and when I feel tense or anxious, I'm going to breathe and consciously relax my muscles. Tied in with this is, well, figuring out how to do all the other things I've been using wine to do. The past few days have gone very, very well. When I find myself thinking that I'd like a drink, I figure out why, and then I figure out what I'm actually going to do. Accomplish a task? Sit and read? Hang out with my kids? Send my husband a smiley text? I look forward to seeing what this challenge brings

Hello fellow rebels, I'm happy to be back after being m.i.a. for pretty much a year. This is my second try to complete my second challenge, out of the 3 challenges that I started in the past I only finished 1. Although I wasn't active in the NF community i still kept on exercising and somewhat half-assed my diet. I tried to do two things at once: loose weight and build muscle and it didn't work out for me, I just gained 3kg of probably 99% fat After reading the last NF Blog posts about how it's better to first focus on fat loss and then on building muscle I decided to come back to the forum and do just that. GOAL: weigh 54 kg / 119lb My weight this morning was 56,7 kg /124.7 lb but I came down with a gastroenteritis this weekend and I'm just back to eating normal (which is also why I'm starting late) and I wouldn't be surprised if my weight is up 1kg by the end of the week. Mission 1: Diet (4 CON, 1 CHA) Allowed foods: everything Paleo + the following foods in moderation: Dairy if full fat and natural, corn, green legumes, honey Off Limits: Sugar, alcohol, grains, soy, everything "low fat" or "diet", processed foods, fast food etc. I start at 100% every week and for every item from the "off limits" list I will substract 10%, 50% is the passing grade. Mission 2: Exercise (3 DEX, 2 STA) In the past I made the mistake of making this part to complicated, so this time I'll try to keep it simple: Exercise 6x a week between 30 and 60 minutes, depending on the intensity of the workout (e.g. walking: 60 min, BBWW: 30 min), try to keep it diverse. Mission 3: Push ups (3 STR) Right now I can do one good push up before Ilet my knees drop, so I want to get to 2 sets of 5 push ups. Push ups will be graded by result at the end of the challenge. Life mission (2 WIS): Dedicate 4 effective hours every week day 20 effective hours every week to my Master thesis and job applications. Height: 160cm / 5'3" Starting weight: 59 kg /130 lb ------------------------->56,8 kg / 125 lb BF%: 32% (Navy calculator) ---------------------------> 30% Shoulders: 40cm / 15.7 in ------------------------------> 39cm / 15.3 in Arm r: 25,5cm / 10 in ------------------------------------> 25,5cm / 10 in Arm l: 24,cm / 9.6 in -------------------------------------->25cm / 9.8 in Waist: 82cm / 32.3 in ------------------------------------> 79cm / 31.1 in Hip: 94cm / 37 in ------------------------------------------>93cm / 36.6 in Thigh r: 56,5cm / 22.2 in--------------------------------> 55cm / 21.6 in Thigh l: 56cm / 22 in ------------------------------------->56cm / 22 in Calves: 34cm / 13.4 in ----------------------------------->34cm / 13.4 in Week one: Diet: 80% Exercise: 3x out of 4 active (non sick) days: 100% Life: 0%, outch. Mini Challenge: 201 Mountain Climbers 1STR Week two: Diet: 40% Exercise: 100% Life: 67% Mini Challenge: walked 12 km, 1 STA Week three: Diet: 80% Exercise: 100% Life: 72% Week four: Diet: 40% Execise: 50% Life: 57,5% Week five: Diet: 60% Exercise: 86% Life: 35% Week six: Diet: 0% Exercise: 66% Life: n/a Challenge wrap up: (details) Diet: 50%, (2 CON, 0,5 CHA) Exercise: 85% (2,5 DEX 1,5 STA) Push ups: 85% (2,5 STR) Life: 45% (0,5 WIS)

Now that the holidays are over let's get back to it. For those who are new to this challenge, this is the third PvP of this type that we've done. In the past it was 20 pounds in 10 weeks, but at the end of the last one, only a couple of people crossed the finish line. Also, with winter it might be a bit tougher, so we're gonna scale down and go for 10 instead. For those returning, I bolded or struck-through some changes on the rules. The "rules" are simple: Sign up by posting your name, and starting weight in the 10 lbs. 10 weeks challenge spreadsheet. You are also welcome to opt for less weight or less time. I added a new sheet for this challenge to the same old spreadsheet. All the info/details on it need to be updated, I'll do that before we begin. For now just add your name to the column labelled "Nerd". Introduce yourself to the group, discuss your goals, motivation(s), and strategies. Also post a current link for your challenge or battle log. This way we can see what we're doing (easily) outside the PvP, and track each other down to nag each other for accountability's sake. Cheer the group on. Stay positive, support others and draw on the support and advice of others. One of the main benefits of doing this is for accountability and support. Make this a positive place that people will want to keep coming back to. Post your favorite motivational quotes, funniest gifs etc. Make everyone want to spend time here, checking-in, gaining knowledge, gaining motivation. We definitley need more lol cats and such this time around. Weigh-in weekly regularly. Add your weekly weights to the spreadsheet. Instructions are given therein. You can choose whichever day works for you, but do so by the Monday following that week. Most people choose a day that tends to be their lowest weight due to their weekly workout routine. You can report your lowest weight for the week, or your rolling average... whatever is most meaningful to you. Weekly weigh-ins are suggested, but absolutely optional. All guilds are welcome. Try out sidequests. Whoever leads the pack in weight lost will propose a weight loss tactic for others to try sometime during that week. It could be something that you've done that works for you. OR it could be something new you want to try. Share your knowledge or drag other people into doing something new with you. All sidequests are optional and will not be scored or graded. BUT, they are a good opportunity to share ideas, and try new strategies. I figured we'd just drop the sidequest thing since we did so few on the last challenge. Also, I don't think I'll be able to keep up with a weekly leaderboard, so if someone wants to do that, please do.

{ M O G I S H A D E ' S B A T T L E L O G } Welcome to my "battle log", a digital fitness and life goal notebook. I have an epic quest thread and multiple challenge threads, but here is where the minutiae of the day-today struggle will be recorded. Epic Quest - MogiShae's Five Year plan and his Impossible List Challenge 01 - Escape from the Underdark! Challenge 02 - Discovering the Path Challenge 03 - Man on Fire (Yeti on Fire?) Challenge 04 - LIFT. RUN. EAT. (failed/abandoned) Challenge 04.1 - The Dead City of Aku'Mah (current) Web Resources adventure Alastair Humphreys Adventurous Habits - The Science of Stoked minimalism Clutter Busting with Brooks Palmer diet & nutrition physical fitness LIFT-RUN-BANG Jim Wendler "The Iron" by Henry Rollins Start Bodyweight finance miscellaneous 50 Ways to get a Job Jack Donovan Chris McCombs J.D. Moyer Grammarist the jsomers.net blog The Art of Non-Conformity

I'm looking to trim down, but not necessarily lose "weight" in general. I have been slowly and steadily gaining muscle for the past few years, and know that the scale doesn't tell the full body comp story. What methods do y'all use to track % body fat? Tape measure? Impedance? a pro with a caliper?

New challenge in a while! I'm excited for the new year! Da Background: I've been on NF for over a year and a half and shown great progress and more importantly made some great friends. I've been on my fitness journey for 3 years, maybe 4 (can't remember anymore) with the Paleo diet. It worked great and I lost 100 lbs over that time. Last year I reached my lowest weight since who knows when of 193 lbs consistently. Last January I started lifting as well, and that has been the best fitness decision I ever made. I am a happily married man with a very healthy and happy 1 year old boy. These two are my life and constant motivation to be the best self possible. I am an engineer for a large automotive company working in durability/performance testing in AZ. Part of this job also allows me to volunteer and lead a high school club that focuses on a robotics competition (see here: FRC) This is also a huge time consumer at the first part of the year as our competition just started. Da goals: 1. Lose bodyfat. This seems to be everyone's new year's resolution. And really, why shouldn't it be? Everyone could lose a few pounds after the holidays. In my case, after reaching 193 lbs for a month or so, I decided I wanted to bulk for the rest of the year and I did. I am now at 212lbs as of this morning. I made some sweet gains, but I also gained some tub. Thankfully not a lot. So how will I lose bodyfat? I've had great luck following a semi Paleo, low-carb diet. I am good enough (I believe) that I can do so without counting calories. So this will be a lot of veggies and meat, and the occasional dairy product. I've had great success with this in the past and it allows me not to have to worry about counting calories, because if I follow my bodies cues I can't overeat. In the past I would hover around 1200-1600 calories daily. That's a good deficit. I expect to lose 5-10lbs during this challenge. Ultimately I want to lose 40-50 lbs 2. Walk 10,000 steps on non-lift days. I lift 3 days a week, following a SL-similar program. But I need to up my movement daily, thus I'll walk at least 10,000 steps on a non lift day, and at least one walk at work on lifting days. We have a walking path on the fence-line at work, so I should use it. 3. Maximize sleep. I need to go to sleep as I hit the bed. No staying up on the tablet. With all the work, volunteer work, and my master's class, I need to sleep as much as I can. This will also help with the calorie deficit funk you can get into. Using my activity tracker I'll try to remember to record my sleep daily.

Dizz puts on her ranger hat and surveys the terrain. She has come far on her journey, but there are mountains to crest and plateaus to demolish. She assesses her equipment and decides it's time to change tactics. Her tiefling nature has left her resistant to the elements, but not immune to the criticisms of humanity. She has a sixth sense for tracking, but some obstacles must still be avoided. Cactus, cliffs, lack of water all are challenges to face. To help townsfolk accept her, she has learned to juggle and entertain with an orb in her pack. I have spent the last .... 4? 5? challenges with the scouts. I just finished a 3 day camp with 9 year olds. 12 hours of making/breaking camp, hiking, sharing and exploring per day. Guestimate is about 6-7 miles total. The kids wore out before I did. It was very scouty. I was wearing a Ranger uniform and everything. I have another camp to work at at the end of February. So.... I'm leaving the scouts for now to go to the Rangers. I'm expanding my fitness from just running to weights and body strength as well. I feel like a jack of all guilds right now, but this seems like the best fit for now. I was with the rangers about a year ago, when I was just starting out with NF. I focused on running for most of 2014 and now can do a 5K no problem. I am still out of shape as far as strength goes and the plan is to add that in. I'm mostly doing the weights in the gym. Body weight workouts hasn't been working for me. Mostly going to the gym, since I like being around people. I started eating paleo last month and dropped 6 pounds, despite the holidays. Woohoo!!! I'm continuing that path. Goals: STR: Lift weights 1x a week. Increase weight as needed. 3x8 sets DEX: Juggling 1x a week. Learn 1 new pattern by end of challenge CON: Run/hike 2x a week Starting stats Weight: 204 lbs Waist: 33 inches Hip: 45 in Arm 14 Thigh 24 Calf: 17 in

Such a newbie at gaining muscle, so I'm not even sure if my question will make sense. I hear people on the board talk about bulking and losing, and I really didn't even pay much attention. I lost the weight I wanted, and then basically worked at maintaining. Over Christmas I gained a little fluff, that I am working on losing this challenge. My goals are to get stronger and healthy. My short term quantifiable goal is to be able to do 5 (each side) Turkish Get Ups with 35# and 100 44# KB one handed swings in 5 minute. Right now I am working on 30# TGUs and two handed 44# KB swings, so I need to gain strength to do this. Also working on pull ups and pistols. Do I need to just focus on maintaining my workouts, and not do any increases while I focus on losing? I thought we were always supposed to be getting stronger? After I lose the weight (next challenge I'm just looking for about 5 pound loss) then should I eat to bulk if I want to hit my goals? How do you bulk if you are a middle age woman without it coming on as fat? Edit to add: I eat Paleo. I weigh 128 lbs would like to lose about 5 of those. I was eating about 120 grams protein, but I cut back a little to see if that would help my weight and now eat about 90-100 grams of protein.

I'll fill this first post out more when I'm home, but here are my goals for this challenge, just to get them out there. Goal 1: Recover from the holidays...and then some What this looks like: Body fat goal: 26.25%Start of challenge: 28.27%Where I ended in 2014: 26.97%How much I need to reduce beyond 2014 levels: 0.72%Waist size goal: 38.5"Start of challenge: 39.75"Where I ended in 2014: 38.75"How much I need to reduce beyond 2014 levels: 0.25"Supported through maintaining an 80/20 Paleo diet. Having all my Non-Paleo Tokens (NPTs) for meals and snacks in one pot during the last challenge hindered me a little I think, so I'm going to separate them out and have different banks for each. So that means I start the challenge with 25 Meal NPTs and 17 Snack NPTs.If by some miracle, I blow past these goals, I have stretch goals in mind that I'll introduce when/if the time comes. Goal 2: The Superhero Trajectory What this looks like: Gym time 2-3 times per week. I'm currently still doing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles workout, but I'm not necessarily tied to that. However, they are superheroes I can admire. Supplement with Days 5-46 of the PLP 60-day challenge. I started doing PLP on January 1st, so why not use that to my advantage!Further supplement workouts with trying out HIIT on off-days, 1-2 times per week.Goal 3: "Cure" my apartment What this looks like: Participate in "The January Cure," modified to suit my needs.Continue to lighten the load by getting rid of 50-100 more pounds of "stuff."Goal 4: Become multi-lingual What this looks like: Practice French at least 5 times per week using the DuoLingo website/app.Bonus points if I can get a 40 day streak on DuoLingo (starting from today)!I did technically start my challenge on Monday, and I definitely used some NPTs over the past few days so my bank is currently at 22 Meal NPTs and 13 Snack NPTs.

I am a 39 year old woman, divorced this year. I am determined to get fit enough to do the things I want without slowing others down. I like hiking. A LOT. I just finished a 3 day hiking trip with a bunch of 9 year olds. They wore out before I did... first time for that. I want to get into some gymnastics and want to build a base to start that. I am a juggler, specifically contact juggling and 3 ball/club toss. Working on improving that. I've been doing the challenges, but I don't like the gap in between. A year ago, I was a couch potato, eating poorly, not exercising much. This year, I did C25K, ate better, lost weight. I am running 3 miles on a training run now, going to do a 4 mile race in January. I joined a gym for the weight room and starting to lift. No deadlift bar available though. Still just starting out and focusing on my upper body, doing assisted dips/pull ups, bench dumbells, barbell rows. Starting stats Weight: 204 lbs Waist: 33 inches Hip: 45 in Arm 14 Thigh 24 Calf: 17 in

Hey guys, moving over here from my challenge thread. Tea's Training To Be A Kickass Shield Maiden. I'll be posting my training, recipes from time to time, and anything I find motivating. I'll put goals up later but right now I am hungry and thats about all I can think about.

Some of us had some good success with our previous 20 lbs. challenge. The old thread continues to get a few newcomers, but overall participation and posting has been flagging, so I figured it was time for a reboot. Thus, I challenge YOU, (and myself) to commit to 10 weeks of weight loss, and to lose 2 lbs. per week. Can you do it? The "rules" are simple: Sign up by posting your name, and starting weight in the 20 lbs., 10 weeks challenge spreadsheet. You are also welcome to opt for less weight or less time. Introduce yourself to the group, discuss your goals, motivation(s), and strategies. Cheer the group on. Stay positive, support others and draw on the support and advice of others. One of the main benefits of doing this is for accountability and support. Make this a positive place that people will want to keep coming back to. Post your favorite motivational quotes, funniest gifs etc. Make everyone want to spend time here, checking-in, gaining knowledge, gaining motivation. Weigh-in weekly. Add your weekly weights to the spreadsheet. Instructions are given therein. You can choose whichever day works for you, but do so by the Monday following that week. Most people choose a day that tends to be their lowest weight due to their weekly workout routine. You can report your lowest weight for the week, or your rolling average... whatever is most meaningful to you. All guilds are welcome. Try out sidequests. Whoever leads the pack in weight lost will propose a weight loss tactic for others to try sometime during that week. It could be something that you've done that works for you. OR it could be something new you want to try. Share your knowledge or drag other people into doing something new with you. All sidequests are optional and will not be scored or graded. BUT, they are a good opportunity to share ideas, and try new strategies.

Here is my list of goals for this challenge. I'll fill out where my starting point is at a later point, but wanted to at least get this up here. Goal 1: Eat at least 80% paleo. Allowance of 42 Non-Paleo Tokens (NPTs) (accounting for 3 meals and up to 2 snacks per day)Goal 2: Lose at least 2.5% body fat. Starting point: 28.58%Goal: 26% or lowerGoal 3: Complete the NF Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Workout 2-3 times per week. Life Goal: Get rid of 50 more pounds of stuff. Onward!

I have been thinking about this for a little while and will think on it some more to finesse the finer details.

Main Quest Goals Build strength Increase cardio fitness Increase muscle mass Decrease visceral fat Maintain low levels of depressionMethods Stronglifts 5x5 covers #1 and #3 and a bit of #4 HIIT on non-weight lifting days covers #2 and #4 following 30 Days of HIIT from http://neilarey.com Cycle to work every workday covers #5 and a bit of #4 and #2 Side Quests Clean eating unprocessed foods reduced sugars Paint kitchenMotivation I went to my wife's diet/fitness place, had myself measured, listened to the trainer about what I need to improve on and decided to do something about it. I'm not far from my goal and that's what seems to make it somewhat elusive: losing the last 10lbs is harder than the first 10lbs (so I believe) and that is why it has been difficult for me to reach the final goal.

Ok, so no theme this time. I thought about a Friday The 13th thing, but finding appropriate/fitnessy memes sounded exhausting. So: dragons. Dragons are always good. Plus, this way I get to search for dragons every morning before jumping into work. Booonus! Deviant Art, here I come! Overarching Goal Hasn't changed - still trying to get my body comp where I want it through tight-ish metrics + building strength to be able to do all the OCR-related things I want to do. I realize I *could* accomplish this goal faster by adhering to stricter weekend metrics and incorporating more intense workouts, but I'm lazy at heart - let's just stick to doing what I can do and to upping the baseline intensity level, rather than attacking a heavy-duty something all at once and fizzling out because no one's watching/my program has ended/I lose interest. Goal 1: Fitness I actually didn't do bad on my 'choose your own adventure' workout schedule last challenge, much to my shock. So … I'm going to go down that track a little further. I still want to work on doing an unassisted pull-up, I think the Spartan 30 challenges are kind of fun, the Spartan daily WODs are good for me (but intimidating), I love me some nerdy bodyweight routines, HasFit is fantastic, and I want to continue on with the mix of cardio/bodyweight/light weights/specific movements/yoga I'm already doing and see where that gets me. I'll be pulling from: Spartan WODs, HasFit, Neila Rey, and other places as I see them - my yoga class, for sure. Upcoming Races: Merrill Down N' Dirty OCR - October 5 Color Run 5k - October 18 Goal 2: Metrics Metrics make me happy and they work for me, so I'm sticking with them. As a refresher, my metrics are: 100 grams or under of carbs, 70 grams or over of protein, under 100 grams of fat and around 1500 calories. Water is the recommended by FitBit 64 ounces, and on the weekends I like my step count to be over FitBit’s recommended 10,000. I track food with My Fitness Pal and exercise, sleep and water with the FitBit Flex. Weight and BF are tracked with my FitBit Aria scale. FitBit. I also use a combo of FitBit + Runkeeper + Zombies, Run! To track my workouts, though I'm thinking of dropping Runkeeper and who knows what will happen when iOS8 and the new Apple Health comes out. I'm sure I'll be jumping at least some of these ships in favor of that, if it's as awesome as advertised. Goal 3: Get Your Shit Together I need to. I'm a grown-ass adult with responsibilities, short people that might notice if I no longer exist, and family members that totally don't want to deal with the headache of slogging through my shit should I croak unexpectedly. I should have a will made out. And know where all my important documents are located. To this end, the goal is to fill out the Get Your Shit Together stuff + enter all my other important crap into Evernote so I can actually find it (like my marriage license and the deed to my house - which may or may not be in a box at the bottom of one of my closets. Maybe I'll finally get that fireproof box my hubby has been wanting for years. UPDATE: GYST LIST Week 1: Will Week 2: Living Will Week 3: Life Insurance Week 4: Money Week 5: Details Week 6: Personal Items Other Goals Whittle more things out of the house - I'd like to clear enough off of a bookcase to get rid of it. This is going to take action, rather than planning. Continue the leaving my house on weekdays to at least think about being social trend.Work on the damn scarf I've been knitting for 2 years now. Finish before Spring? Continue streamlining my wardrobe/getting rid of shit I don't need/getting things that are too big for me altered so they're not wasting space/get the shoes I need cobbled cobbled.Drag the clothes I'm donating out of the closets they came out of out the door and to the donation place. Even if that means I have to backpack clothes out in batches every week on the way to the grocery store. Quit being lazy. This is a nebulous goal - more of a goalposts goal. I'll be reporting on progress, but won't be including this in my overall grading scheme. You know what? Screw that. This is a real goal. Worth up to 5 points. Internal dialogue edit: This is not a hard goal to accomplish in the grand scheme of life. Quit being lazy, dammit. Risk Internet failure less than a perfect grade. Now drop and give me burpees.

Thanks Wildross and KiltedCowboy for the help. What is going to happen here... * Lose more fat * Keep (and maybe increase) what muscle I have * Increase endurance - because I developed a surprising appreciation for running * DEVELOP THE MIND It's time to press beyond my current boundaries and take some new territory. I'm pressing against the limits of what my brain believes is possible. I've dropped a few sizes, pounds, etc, and my brain wants to think "that's it." Sitting behind the walls of FortB will not get my family to where it needs to be. It's time for an intensive, "all-out" 6-week offensive - take untamed territory, and maybe have a stronger mind at the end... which requires an open mind today. <<I moved my note on 'the mind" to the next post>> 6-WEEK CHALLENGE: PART 1 - Fitness Goals now - DROP 2" off belly / 10 pounds on the scale while keeping what strength I have * Food - Stick with carb-management and calorie restriction (via Kiefer/Carbnite) adjusting as my next-day workouts require * Train every other day for next run - November 8th 7k run - mainly continue fat loss and just finish the run (no need to crush myself while I still have all this body-fat to lose) * Lift 3 days per week - stronglifts - on non-run days PART 2 - Life Goals - * Strengthen the mind - borrowing advice from Chrissie Wellington (especially ch 10 of her book) and Bear Grylls - While I launch this offensive, I'm also going to fortify the mind - strengthen my internal-life... maybe write about it here on a weekly basis. * Educate the mind - SURGE - increase my study time to 6 hours daily on CAIA / CFA efforts (this will be tough, but that's the point of an offensive). And the obligatory copy-paste of my long-term BIG QUEST: By summer 2016: LEAN, JACKED and LEARN-ed and vocationally settled in a long-term city * Year 1: Lean out - down to 36" waist (is 32 possible? not sure what’s is under all this fat) while getting my first financial certification (CAIA), level 2 of 2nd cert (CFA), and dabble with Python - deadline - Summer 2015 (July 4, 2015) * Year 2: Get jacked - bulk up while honing outdoor/survival skills, second financial certification and skilled enough in coding to be a decent freelance developer - At the end of year 2 - have the skills and knowledge that would be envied by integrity-based hedge funds and/or leading software/tech shop (or a combination of both - maybe work my own niche in finance and coding/tech) - lean, strong, CAIA/CFA, Python coder, living in long-term city More simply put... MAIN QUEST: By summery 2016, get lean and jacked, be on a strong career path, and move to a long-term city with strong coding skills My WHY remains - husband and dad trying to provide while also making the most of my health - body, mind, soul... and live fully!

What do you call a late noob? Me! (Better late than never, right?) Hi all, after some deliberation, I decided that since fat loss is still a major long-term goal of mine, I hang out with the adventurers for a while. Did well as a level 1 rebel on my first challenge, moving up in strength training from 10 to 20 lb weights in most exercises, and 20 to 30 lb dumbbells for chest press. I walked for at least 20 minutes EVERY DAY during the last challenge, and I improved a lot by the end of my mini mission of eating < 100g carbs per day (4 times a week). By the end, I had lost 6.5 inches off my, chest, waist, and hips, yay! Since diet is like 90% of fat loss success, I’d like to focus on mostly diet stuff for this challenge. So for my first adventurer challenge, I have posed the following for myself: Main Quest: Fit into Size 8 Jeans by the end of the year (this would be a great xmas present to myself!) **EDITED** I decided that I want to incorporate a strength challenge for myself in order to maintain my strength training. I'm still new to it and need to keep it challenging, otherwise I'll get bored and might quit! So my strength challenge is a part of a long term goal of mine to do a pull up one day. I can do 20-25 lb dumbbell rows, and according to Steve's How to do a Pull Up post, I need to get to 35 lbs before I can get to pull up land. So my strength goal is to get to 35 lbs by the end of the 6-week challenge. **I'LL SAVE THIS FOR NEXT TIME!!** Drink 8 glasses of water daily: I plan to track this through myfitnesspal. It was a good tool to have during the last challenge, so I will continue to use it. To help reach this goal, I also have a water bottle at work that holds about 4 cups of water, so as long as I fill it up in the middle of the day, I’ll have drunk the majority of my water goal at work (or at least half if I don’t get a chance to refill it). Have one vegetable daily: I’ve always been good about trying to get my veggies in, but never consciously tracked this. Batch cook meals every Sunday: During my last challenge, I had a really hard time making my carb goal, but once I started preparing meals for the week, it got so much easier. So to continue this successful trend, I will batch cook a bunch of food on Sunday, divide it up into my little Tupperware containers, and I’ll have food for the week ready to go for work! Side Quest: Read: I’m going to keep this one simple, so the goal here is to find a book and finish it by the end of the challenge. Any suggestions? I read mostly fantasy, and would go for a new series. I was recommended the Mistborn Trilogy, but I am open to any recommendations. Here’s the point breakdown: Strength Challenge: 35 lb dumbbell rows: +3 STR 30 lb dumbbell rows: +2 STR 25 lb dumbbell rows: +1 STR **SAVING FOR NEXT TIME** Water Challenge: 40-42 days: +3 CONS 37-39 days: +2 CONS 36-38 days: +1 CONS Veggie Challenge: 40-42 days: +2 CONS and +1 WIS 37-39 days: +1 CONS and +1 WIS 36-38 days: +1 CONS Batch Cook Challenge: All Sundays: +2 CONS and +1 WIS 4-5 Sundays: +1 CONS and +1 WIS 3-4 Sundays: +1 CONS Read and finish book: +1 WIS (this one’s an all-or-nothing) Not sure how to allocate my points to my attributes, any suggestions there would also be very helpful. Thanks for reading my post! *EDITED: I added the attribute allocations suggested by T2sarahconnor.

I went from tall, dark and (arguably)handsome to... tall, bloated and chubby-faced. A little about me. I'm Lee and I FINALLY got married at 36 years of age on June 22nd to the most beautiful woman I've ever known, inside and out. BUT, I've taken this honeymoon thing waaaaay too far and she won't stop cooking deliciously fattening foods. Lots of Presidente beer and rich Dominican dishes caused my temporary downfall. From the day we stepped into that hotel resort in Punta Cana(I live in the DR) to celebrate our marriage I've been slacking on my workouts and eating like there is no tomorrow. The worst part is that I've been weight training for over 15 years, teaching and training others to get in shape for 10+ years. Usually through intermittent fasting, which I am now back to doing after having TOTALLY abandoned it post-wedding the last 3 months. My Stats: 6'4" 255 lbs My Normal Size: 6'4" 240 lbs My New Goal: 6'4" 230 lbs (lean, ripped & muscular) I've done this before and I always get back to my shape, but trust me... I have fat guy genetics, if I don't stick to the script I blow up quickly. Here's a pic from when I REALLY got too big, I was about 270 lbs in this pic and went down to 240. And that wasn't my biggest, I've been 289 before but I didn't take many photos of that stage in life. I think I'll be back to where I was in 3 months, I'm not a naturally lean guy but I know how to get lean when I want to, and since I won't be having anymore honeymoons I will stay lean. I'll be doing 3 full-body weight-training workouts per week and atleast 120 minutes of cardio per week. Feel FREE to give your encouragements and helpful suggestions. Today's fasted workout....(I always workout fasted, regardless of my goals but it's REALLY great for fat-burning) Walk 1 mile to the gym with loaded backpack. I'm not pushing the weight you most of you guys are and I'm not trying, it's just not my goal. I hope that is respected. I've done a lot more weight in the past, but it's not MY thing. I'm all about aesthetics and athletic function. Squats: 3 sets of 10 squats - 205 lbs (going for lightweight - higher volume to burn fat)4 sets of 10 box squats - 225 lbs Barbell Clean & Press(fast-paced):3 sets of 12 - 70 lbs Bench Press:3 sets of 10 - 205 lbs Lat Pulldowns:3 sets of 12 - 100 lbs This workout ad me TOTALLY GASSED. By the time I got to the 2nd set of Barbell Clean & Press I was huffing & puffing like no tomorrow and you should know that I work out on an empty stomach ALWAYS. My last meal from yesterday was at 8:00 pm Sunday night and I just ate at about 1:30 pm today.. I must admit, I had to break up my bench press sets and ended up doing 6 sets of 6, I was gassed from the clean and presses. The Lat pulldowns went well and I felt a second wind coming, I threw in a couple extra reps in each set and will definitely up the weights the next time I do it. Afterwards, I walked back home one mile, the first few blocks are totally uphill(The Dominican Republic is full of hills and valleys). Anyway, I felt GREAT and Energized after the workout. I wanna see if I can hit my fitness goal in 3 months and if I can get my wife to cook healthier dishes without hurting her feelings... - Lee

Hi! Several questions, but first background. I am 5'0", female, 18, and about 45 pounds overweight. 1. Half my family is doing Atkins ( the other half doesn't need to lose weight, which makes it really hard ), but I'm having a really hard time doing it because I can't seem to keep my carb count down. I'm eating the right foods, but I keep eating too many vegetables (cauliflower, brussel sprouts, green beans, etc), and I'm never sure if I'm using too much salad dressing (I like French and Caesar). Is there something I can do to make this easier, or is it something I just need to deal with? 2. Paleo vs. Atkins. Is one inherently better than the other? Not just in losing weight, but also in keeping it off and maintaining a healthy lifestyle? One allows fruit and not dairy, and the other allows dairy and not fruit (I love both). Is there a way to mix and match the diets and take the best from each one while still losing weight? With Atkins I can't have cheat days 'cause that messes up the whole body-in-fat-burning-mode thing. Is that how it is with paleo? Does one make you lose faster? Is one more reliable in keeping it off? Will I completely ruin it in paleo if I have cake and ice cream at Dad's birthday or with the occaisonal junk food snack? 3. Can you still lose weight if you're eating grains? Please don't tell me grains are bad for you; I don't believe that (I have evidence to back my belief up), so don't waste your time or mine trying to argue otherwise. I just want to know if the high carb count will counteract my losing weight or keeping it off. 4. Can I lose fat and build muscle at the same time? I don't care about looking muscular or toned or whatever- I just want to be stronger, more flexible, and have better stamina. Can my muscles improve to that while my body is burning fat? It seems to me doing that would help with the burning of fat because it could draw energy from the fat and the new muscle would also eat at the fat. 5. I tend to get bored when I exercise. I was doing a program that would get me up to doing 200 squats (in one set) in a day, and I was doing great, except I would get bored around the 18th rep. I'd like to train myself to run because it's useful in games and in case I ever need to run, but I get bored less than two minutes in. The same for using my stationary bike: it takes about a minute before I get hopelessly bored. I tried setting up so I watched a movie (doctor who, actually! ) while I cycled, but going at a steady pace I wasn't tired at the end, going any faster and I'm completely pooped in about ten minutes. Also when I try to do bodyweight exercises in my room, I can't because the floor squeaks and it disturbs my sisters (don't say do them another time, because I can't). So I guess my question in this, how can I build my strength and muscle in a way that I don't get bored. I'd still like to be able to do 200 squats and pushups and stuff, but if I'm bored I hate it and if I hate it I make excuses to not and if I make excuses I don't improve. I tried upping the intesity (ten jump squats instead of normal squats-to-boredom), but that still gets boring day after day. I think part of the problem might be I'm not being stimulated mentally, only physically. It's especially difficult to warm up, because that's five minutes when I'm not even pushing myself physically. Does anybody have any suggestions to stave off the boredom? And is there a faster warm up I could do in about a minute or less? 6. I'm tired all the time. Not exhausted, just in that want-to-lean-back-and-close-your-eyes kind of way. I get up between 6 and 7 and go to bed never any later than 10, but usually around 9. Am I getting enough sleep? Am I getting too much? Is this a result of a bad diet? Could it be not enough exercise? I'm at the same level of exercise I've been all my life (none) and it's only in the past year or so I've started feeling like this. 7. And finally, is someone willing to acountability buddy with me? Someone my age(ish) and gender (I say age because I'd feel more comfortable with someone my age. With an adult, it just gets complicated because I'm supposed to defer and can't disagree and stuff). I just want someone I can text with who will encourage and hold me accountable, and I'll do the same. I will not meet in person with you, so location doesn't matter. Thank you in advance for any help you can give me. I really really appreciate it.

Hi all, I wrote this on my thread but am curious what the general diet and nutrition folks think. Overall, I think the progress I've made to try to lose body fat is getting there. Right now I'm only using body measurements since I get obsessive about the scale. I measure every two weeks and on average I lose about 1-1.5 inches. I feel like I should be losing more since I take care to stay low on carbs (goal: <100g) and high on protein (goal: 140g). Anyway, I took a look at the last 30 days on MFP and on average consumed 1471 calories, ranging from 1302 and 1717. I took a look at my daily goal in MFP, and it's 1455 right now. So my goal for the next couple of weeks is to keep it around that number and not looking at the net calories consumed. I think I might change my daily goal from 1455 to 1350 also to make sure I make my goal, or I might just keep it and not go over 1400 (I don't like seeing red on my MFP numbers). Right now I strength train 3 times a week and walk at least 30 minutes everyday. Here are my stats and measurement changes since I started tracking on 13 Jul: Height: 4' 11" Measurements: Bust: 39.5"-->37.5" Waist: 37"-->34.5" Hips: 45.5"-->43" Upper Thigh: 24.5"-->23.5" Calf: 15"-->14.75" Upper Arm: 12.5"-->12" Anyway, I wonder if bringing down my calorie goal will help, or if I should just keep it the way it is. Thanks for reading.

I know you have to eat a surplus of quality calories to build muscle, but can those calories be drawn from the fat around my middle? Can I be eating to lose weight, while still doing push ups and training for a 5K? Also, I was doing Atkins for fat loss, but I'm thinking of switching to Paleo because if I mis-eat one day on Atkins I have to start over, but not so for Paleo. (Is this correct?) Also because I can eat fruit in Paleo. ;-) My question in two part: 1) can I eat dairy in Paleo and still lose weight? Will it slow weight loss? and 2) why is dairy not Paleo?

Keeping things SUPER simple right now while I juggle work, studies, parenting, spousing, sleeping... etc... I just want to keep losing fat while gaining what I can in strength and mobility. Here are the simple challenge goals, then will copy-paste in my long-term goal stuff... Lose fat while growing a little strength - drop belly below 43" and scale below 218 * FOOD: Carb Nite Solution stuff - ultra-low-carb most days - carb-load 1 day per week while tracking in MyFitnessPal * Prep 90% or more of my food (save money, eat less junk) * Lunch workouts - lift 3x per week, walk 3x per week (plus evening walks with family) * Mobility work 15 min per evening * CAIA - go through Level 1 material 3 times - learn it - and pass September exam Time to kick fear in the teeth... acknowledge it and move forward. That's all I got time for (no gifs, no pretty, no prose... but thanks for the love anyway nerds). I gotta get through these things (fitness, studies, etc) to take care of this family I've been given. Here is the big-goal-life stuff... THE BIG QUEST by summer 2016: LEAN, JACKED and LEARN-ed and vocationally settled in a long-term city * Year 1: Lean out - down to 36" waist (is 32 possible? not sure what’s is under all this fat) while getting my first financial certification and learn Python * Year 2: Get jacked - bulk up while honing outdoor/survival skills, second financial certification and skilled enough in coding to be at decent freelance developer * At the end of year 2 - have the skills and knowledge that would be envied by integrity-based hedge funds and/or leading software/tech shop (or a combination of both - maybe work my own niche in finance and coding/tech). More simply put... MAIN QUEST: By summery 2016, get lean and jacked, be on a strong career path, and move to a long-term city with strong coding skills My WHY remains - husband and dad trying to provide while also trying to not-die (of poor health)... and live fully! STUFF TO ADD (for future): * Fear - freedom from fear - I fear some people and interactions (I'm a nerd, right? this is how we are)... I want to be free of it - of boss - of a couple co-workers - of rejection - of failure