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I'm so excited about everyone's challenges and the energy they're bringing to the forums. I've been through almost a year here making small steps of progress toward better health and mobility. Long rambling tangents of where I'm coming from: And I have three goals to track! 1. Write 1667 words every day (starts April 1) 2. Do a mobility exercise every day (bonus points for biking and/or DDR) 3. Eat a fruit, a veggie, and a portion of mixed nuts every day (bonus points for ones that I don't already eat on regular basis) Gotta go get ready for work! Thanks for being here! Sincerely, Maerad

Welcome, my fellow nerds, to my eighth step in a healthier direction! I've been keeping my focus on small habits to practice consistency since my history of falling out with exercise stems from losing momentum. I also want to avoid burnout, so I'm doing my best to make my goals fun. Apparently (based on the length of what I've composed here) more fun means more details? lol XD For context: I've been playing various iterations of Animal Crossing for 15+ years, and last fall Cid gave me the Switch version New Horizons. I anticipated the immediate obsessive reaction I would have to playing it, so I postponed until I finally started it a little over a week ago. One of the new features I like in this new version is the Nook Miles+ Rewards that give you a bonus reward for doing the first five tasks, and if you want to continue playing, more rewards without a bonus will spawn as you complete the tasks in hand. Ahead, I've got a list of the Nook Miles+ Reward challenge names from ACNH, a list of the exercises done in the plaza of ACNH, and all my numerous wordy thoughts on how I intend to adapt the challenges into my own goals so that if I put them all on Index cards and shuffle them into a deck I'll have a random draw of which five goals will get a double point bonus for getting done. XD I'm sharing the list of the tasks so that anyone can pick as they please. My picks are whichever I can pair with my personal goals. If you join me in this ACNH-themed 5-week challenge, you are neither limited to my selected tasks nor to my interpretations of what I do to accomplish them. Tbh, I am not entirely sure the list is complete despite being found online since I noticed a few missing, and tacked them on at the end. Even so it's pretty long. The first thing that made me consider this theme for my 5-week challenge was the stretching that can be done as a daily activity in game. I want to scale back my goals so that I have a daily goal to do that warm-up first thing in the morning, and/or last thing at night. I don't have the ability to do it in the video game because I don't have the joy cons, but I do have the ability to do the exercises without the game giving me credit for it. So I've compiled the list of stretches used in the little exercise. That being said, I already know I'm including the "Stretch to Refresh" challenge because it's already a goal I want to accomplish every day - even if I don't pull the index card. It can be a warm-up for other exercises, but I am going to consider just doing these warm-ups their own goal in attempt to promote motion. I will keep track of my daily streak in my attempt to do the stretches every day. My next thought is the fact that my coloring project I originally included as one of my crafty options for my Artificer goals *never* got touched in all of January. But I *do* want to color and draw. My solution is to disguise it in a less daunting facade. I'm using "Chop Down a Tree" as a goal to sharpen one pencil. That puts me in the place where I can use said pencils. In the same theme, "Plant a tree" would be a challenge to draw something, and "Plant a fruit tree" would be to color something. I could also include "Chop 10 Wood" as a journal prompt or letter-writing assignment. "Talk to 3 neighbors" immediately goes into the ranks with little creative thought needed. So long as I make contact with three friends by the end of the day, this goal will be met. To be honest, that's a very necessary goal at this time. I can try spreading it out to one per mealtime if reaching out to three at once seems daunting. I'll include the DIY project challenges, but strangely enough, not for my quilt. XD I'm thinking "Make 3 DIY projects" could be writing for 30 minutes (maybe in sprint mode), and "Customize 2 things" could be editing for 20 minutes (or contemplative writing). That way I get started on the second draft. It's not going to revise itself. XD I *do* want to include my quilt as a goal, though. I think it'd be a good match with "Pop a Balloon" (because needles and pins are sharp?), and the goal could be to get a thread's length of quilting done. "Sell 10 Seashells" fits with an activity I've already been spending some time doing: sifting through my phone's gallery, trying to delete the excessive hoards of saved images. I'll also apply "Sell 20 Weeds" to this task because I move files around while I sift through them. "Sell 20 weeds" is moving 20 images to trash or folders, and "Sell 10 shells" is moving 10 to trash. Another aspect of sifting through my folders of pictures is sharing them. "Sell 5 fruits" can be sharing 5 pictures with friends. "Sell a hot item" could be sharing a picture on Facebook. I feel like the goals for catching bugs and fish would be a funny way to get points for eating fruits and vegetables. The goal of catching 5 fish would be to have an abundance of vegetables at my meal. The goal of catching 1 fish could be to go and get an unusual veggie (we almost always have carrots, onions, or bell peppers, but we do like plenty of other veggies that a diverse array is viable... potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, celery, asparagus, salads, corn, etc.) Likewise, for fruit, catching 5 bugs would be to have an abundance of fruit, and catching 1 bug would be to get one that I don't usually have on hand (I love so many fruits, that it's basically anything except apples which I almost always grab for an addition to my lunches). "Water 8 flowers" should definitely be to use my enormous Hufflepuff cauldron mug for my water. XD That thing hydrates like magic. But I don't know what "Planting 3 flowers" would be in that sense, so it may not make it into the challenge. That fine - it wouldn't be the only challenge that I liked but didn't have a goal to align the challenge with. I haven't made any of my index cards yet. 18 things to do is a lot, but I wonder if I might just get standard points for each task until I have made the index cards? Can't get a x2 bonus until there's an index card to pull? I've already had a few days to make them, but maybe I'll get them made this week, or slowly as I go, or I'll never have them made to pull and still get ridiculous point counts despite having no bonus. XD I'm basically just trying to make something that sounds fun. It looks like I put a lot of effort into pairing my things with an existing list, but I really am just going with whatever sounds reasonable to me. I hope it doesn't come across as too zany or hard to follow. And to avoid the broken link emojis, I'll just be keeping track of the Nook Miles I earn? I'm hoping taking credit for a lot of small successes this month helps me keep doing things I like. Have a beautiful day! Sincerely, Maerad

Last challenge, I moved from Tokyo to Edinburgh and I actually handled it pretty well overall, all things considered. This time, I'm going to shift a few of my goals around a bit because I noticed there are some things I'd like to do that I slacked on (like running) and some other things that I've been tracking that I've done pretty well and consistently without really trying so I think they're habits by now (like getting outside and walking for a bit every day). I'm also thinking I could use to get into a bit better shape and since things are in the process of settling down, I can work on that a bit more. Main Quest: Trim my waistline I don't own a scale and probably won't for a bit, but a measuring tape will measure progress here. It's been a while since I've measured so I don't know where I am right now, but I think getting down to 70 cm eventually would be good (I've been there before and I'm pretty sure I'm not there now). I'll be measuring my waist at the start of the challenge, midway through and at the end. This one will be pass/fail based on Δw = wf - wi (where wf is my final waistline measurement, wi is the initial and Δw is the change) is negative, then I pass and if not then I fail. Measurement: Pass = Δw is negative, Fail = Δw is greater or equal to 0 Statistics: +2 CHA Quest 1: Yoga I've been doing okay with doing yoga regularly, but a lot of the time I don't do it very long or don't work especially hard at it. This time, I would like to do at least four yoga sessions a week (the final week will be three) that are at least 15 minutes long for a total of 15 sessions over the challenge. I'll also aim for yoga routines that require me to work a bit harder. Measurement: A = 12+ yoga sessions, B = 9-11 yoga sessions, C = 6-10 yoga sessions Statistics: +2 CON, +2 STR Quest 2: Running In previous challenges, I was tracking my walks too, but I'm being pretty good about getting out and walking most days so I think I can go a challenge without tracking them. Instead, I will focus on running. I intend to run three days a week (two in the final week). I'm going to aim for 5 km each time, but since I've been slacking on running for the last month, I'll take it easier when necessary until I'm back into it. Measurement: A = 9+ runs, B = 7-8 runs, C = 4-6 runs Statistics: +2 STA, +2 DEX Quest 3a: Food I will aim for five servings of fruit or veggies a day. It's possible I'm already doing this, but I'm not keeping track so I don't really know. I'll be borrowing whitewineandcathair's system from last challenge and making a little (hopefully) rainbow chart to keep track because that seemed like a fun system. Measurement: A = 104+ fruits and veggies, B = 78-103 fruits and veggies, C = 52-77 fruits and veggies Statistics: +1 WIS, +1 CON Quest 3b: Drink I'm going to track my booze intake and try to keep that to one a day or seven alcoholic drinks a week. This is possibly going to be a bit harder since I tend to not really pay attention to how much I'm drinking and I think that booze is delicious. I'll add a bit of wiggle room here, allowing myself to go over by as much as 20% (or 31 drinks over the course of the challenge instead of 26) before I start being penalized. Measurement: A = 31 or fewer drinks, B = 32-36 drinks, C = 37-42 drinks, Fail = 43+ drinks Statistics: +1 WIS, +1 CON Life Quest: Work Finally, I need to find a job. I'll put in at least one application a week and I'll be hoping that employers around here are happy with emails instead of phone calls since I don't have a phone yet. I'll also try to find a bit of tutoring work to tide me over until I find a full time job. Measurement: A = 4+ job applications, B = 2-3 job applications, C = 1 job application Statistics: +1 WIS Total potential statistics gain: +2 STR, +2 DEX, +2 STA, +4 CON, +3 WIS, +2 CHA

Main Quest - Drop 2 dress sizes. I don’t have a final date for this, because the most important part for me is to build healthy habits before focusing on weight loss. I can’t gauge how long it’ll take, so I’m happy to keep it as my ultimate goal while monitoring my progress along the way. Motivation: Because I want to make the effort to accomplish something meaningful for myself. Because I want to complete a project from start to finish. Because I want to feel better. Because I want fewer stomach-aches and headaches and colds and pains and sleepless nights. Because I want to discover my mental strength. Because I want to enjoy the clothes that I used to wear. Because I want to revel in the process of doing something hard and frustrating so that I can be grateful and persistent when I make it. Freggie Superstar Quest! I look at this part as having 6 mini-goals, one per week. Each week I’ll increase by 1 freggie per day until I’m at 6 freggies per day during week 6. I’ll allow myself one off-day per week. I can eat freggies raw, with dressing, cooked, in sauces, in smoothies, etc. My goal is to set up the habit of how I eat freggies each day so it becomes more natural. Week 1: 1 freggie per day (1 CON) Week 2: 2 freggies per day (1 CON) Week 3: 3 freggies per day (1 CON) Week 4: 4 freggies per day (1 CON) Week 5: 5 freggies per day (1 CON) Week 6: 6 freggies per day (1 CON) 1 Sweet Per Day Quest Eat no more than one serving of one sweet per day, whatever that might be. (1 CON, 2 WIS) If I want to be mindful about eating sweets, I need to have a way to track my progress and monitor myself. Originally I wasn't going to focus on sweets at all, but I've realized just how easy it is to snack a little here and there throughout the day. Sometimes I even forget that I've already had a treat. Once I've had a treat (be in hot chocolate, cookies, soda, candy, etc.) I'll simply add it to my spreadsheet and know that I'm done for the day. I made more progress during my last challenge than I'd realized, and I don't want that to go to waste by overdoing it on the sweets. Life Quests 1. Laundry every Friday. (2 CHA, 2 WIS) 2. 5 minutes of productive housework each weekday after work. (1.5 WIS, 2.5 CHA) I'm setting reminders for both of these in my phone and calendar and placing strategic sticky-notes. I already sort of do laundry on a weekly basis, but want to get in the very specific habit of doing it on Friday evenings. For housework, I just can't bring myself to be productive until my house requires intensive weekend cleaning once every few weeks. What if I just did 5 minutes of something productive every day as soon as I got home from work - like dishes, recycling, vacuuming, cleaning, sorting, etc. - so that I didn't have to save it all for a big job? I don't even have to finish what I'm doing. As soon as my 5 minutes are up (with the help of a timer), I'll put it away and keep going the next day. I know, this seems really simple. I want to see what it’s like just to focus on one attainable goal for food and one attainable goal for improved lifestyle. Because this is sort of how my brain works: In my first challenge of cutting out sweets and soda as well as adding in freggies I had three weeks of 100% success, then three weeks of about 60% success. I built some strong, healthy habits but began to feel the stress of life getting in the way. Based on recommendations from others I began reading more thoroughly about how to build habits and, more importantly, how to sustain them. One idea kept coming up throughout the articles and research: Start with incredibly small goals that you intend to keep for a lifetime, and begin building them up with small, purposeful steps. From there I began to think about which action from my first challenge was not only the most impactful, but the most sustainable. While cutting out sugar and soda was extremely beneficial to my health, energy, and overall well-being, I don’t intend to cut them out completely for the rest of my life. My main goal is to learn to enjoy treats mindfully, and cutting them out completely doesn’t allow me to do that. The more impactful action I took was adding freggies into my daily diet. I felt such immense change in my health, even when I wasn’t faithfully cutting out sweets. It was something I could do fairly easily and I found out which freggies were my favorite. Therefore I’ve decided to make this a freggie superstar challenge! Also, I need to improve my organizational habits, which are extremely difficult for me to maintain. I read something recently about ADHD and habits, and what stuck with me is that I don't need to set a date to finish a project, I just need to set a date to start it. Rather than making a goal to clean out the spare room or do all the dishes every night, I just need to commit to a small amount of time each day to do something productive, whether or not I finish. ................................................ Starting Measurements: Neck: 14.25 in. (+.25 from C1) Arms: 12.75 in. (-1.5 from C1) Chest: 37.5 in. (-1.5 from C1) Waist: 35 in. (-1.25 from C1) Belly Button: 38.5 in. (-2.5 from C1) Hips: 46 in. (-1 from C1) Thighs: 25.5 in. (-1 from C1) Calves: 15.5 in. (same as C1) Weight: 179 lb. (-6 from C1) Height: 5'8" (same as C1 ) ................................................ Week 1: Freggies 1 2 (off day) 3 4 5 6 7 Sweets 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Housework 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Laundry 1 Week 2: Freggies 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sweets 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Housework 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Laundry 1 Week 3: Freggies 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sweets 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Housework 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Laundry 1 Week 4: Freggies 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sweets 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Housework 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Laundry 1 Week 5: Freggies 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sweets 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Housework 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Laundry 1 Week 6: Freggies 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sweets 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Housework 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Laundry 1

Heheh fruits baskets is this weeks theme for me Today is the start of a new week and im excited to keep working on losing weight and getting healthier!!! This weeks goals are going to be a little more focused, and not just on my weight but on home life as well. --calories and water Im going to continue with my 8 glasses of water, 2 caffinated beverages and 1800 calories, but this time im going to try and eat a little bit healthier. Im going to try and eat 2 pieces of fruit and 2 vegetabled in my day, as well as have more protien. --exercise along with work still, which allows me to walk, im going to try and get up early and do some yoga in the morning, and some meditation. I suffer from anxiouty so im hoping this will quiet my mind as well as allow me to think clearer. --personal this one is important this week. Im going to try really hard on this One. Im in school full time and in my last 2 terms, meaning im very busy working as a graphic designer. I also work and have to maintain a relationship. Because ive been so busy with school, my relationship has taken a Hit. So my goal for this one is to be more mindful. I want to be able to sort out my mind and be able to pay attention to things around me. As well as take some time to rememBer my fiance. Its not that i forget him, i just get buSy... and he has some past problems that i need to take special care of. So here goes to this next week!! Good luck! and remember to always be yourself, and youll be fine

Hi everyone! This is my third week into Paleo and I’m doing relatively well, but I am a little bit concerned about my fruit intake. I would usually have 2 or 3 fruits a day, mostly apples or tangerines (less often pears or strawberries, and rarely bananas). Usually one as a snack 5 or 6 pm, and another after dinner 9 pm or so. Eventually if I am super hungry or craving for something sweet I would have one extra at some point of the day, usually this happen in the evening, or as a late night snack. Is this amount ok? Is it too much? I don’t expect to see drastic changes in my body within two or three weeks, but I am willing to lose weight, and I don’t know if this could be holding me back. All advice is welcome =) Thanks in advance!

I just came home with my first Paleo-friendly cart full of groceries. Hoping this will rid me of some ills over time. Cheers!

Hey NF! So I've been kind of into smoothies lately. I like to mix my veggies and fruits into a thick, unpleasantly coloured, yet scrumptious drink. What do you think of them? I mean like, do they keep the same nutritional values as their whole ingredients? And I know that too much fruit is too much fruit and all that. That's why I try to use less fruit more veggies. Except when the pea or carrot taste is too strong... That's the worst. I guess I would just like to hear some general opinions or facts. Should I nix the smoothies and just go for whole veggies and fruits or are smoothies okay? It's quite crucial information since I'm, yanno, traing for Loki's Army and all. Thanks guys! -Raj

Hi, I've been doing Crossfit for 8 months and it has been great. I lose some weight initially and kept it but now I want to really achieve my weight goal. I'm still 'chubby' but want to improve my training and overall physique. I know I need to eat some fruit for good carbs during the day, but I don't know which ones are better for my goal (ie. too sugarly) These are the fruits I can get in my city: ApplesBananasStrawberriesGrapesPinneaplePapayasOrangesWatermelonCantaloupe I usually buy these because of these qualities: Easy storage/transport, time before going bad, and price: AppleStrawberriesOranges (free)BananasGrapes (only when are in sale!) I plan to eat 2 reasonable portions per day, one in the morning as part of the breakfast and one in the afternoon to combat sugar cravings. Portions: 1 whole banana/ 1 small apple / 1 mid-size orange/ 6 strawberries or grapes / 1 cup of the bigger ones Any advise? btw. I like them all! and I don't have a problem eating the same all the week! Thanks.

I'm quite psyched (as far as that goes for us elves) to have stumbled upon this challenge right on the day that I start following my marathon training schedule! Actually it's already Tuesday 2 a.m. here in Germany, but if I hadn't signed up right now, I know that my motivation to join this ever would have been really reaaally low, so I grabbed the chance by it's neck before it knew what hit it! I had set my "goal" to run a marathon for the last two years already, but got quickly discouraged after some time training. NOW however that I actually have the chance to level up (and having bet 100€ on a certain package of goals, which include the marathon..) I will go through with it and finally run that marathon! I mean, I am Elf now, so I'm swift and have a strong mind which is basically all I need to succeed! So, here are my stats: Level: 1 STR: 1 DEX: 3 STA: 4 (Having run 10km on sunday and also taken part in a 10km run in last Octobre, I think 4 is alright) CON: 4 (I'm quite resistant to diseases somehow, magic elf-thing I guess) WIS: 1 (Good at giving advice, bad at following through myself!) CHA: 2 Primary Quest: Building momentum (need a better name! ) I will follow through with my 10km training schedule which will give me the basic stamina to be able to switch to the real marathon training. The detailed plan is part of a book which is sitting on my desktop at this very moment, so everything is very specific :-) (+5 STA upon finishing) Side Quest 1: Something about fruits I will eat two portions of fruits per day. Although I am an elf, I have hated vegetables until recently and never really gotten the hang of making fruits and vegetables (except cooked ones) part of my daily meals. However, this is going to change now. I will allow myself to exchange one portion of fruits with two portions of raw vegetables once per week. (+2 CON for health, + 1 CHA for being strong and changing my life for the better where I have failed before) Side Quest 2: Powerful Knowledge If I were a university student, I'd have my exams coming up next month. Also: Knowledge is power (does that saying exist in English?), so, being the clever Elf I am, I want to be well prepared for what I might encounter on my long journeys through the woods. Therefore I will sit down and focus on gaining new knowledge or consolidating old knowledge for 30 minutes every day. While that might not sound like much, it will be a challenge to do it every day. (+2 WIS) I'm sure I haven't forgotten anything, as my elfish memory is supreme. If there is however something that might be worth adding, please tell me ;D