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I am heading to an epic vacation in Glacier National Park starting August 11th. I've dreamed of going there for quite some time, but only within the last year has my dream transformed into blossoming reality. I was at first going to go by myself, somehow... But lucky for me, two awesome friends heard my plans and decided that they wanted to come, too! We have a camping cabin reserved for four nights, and one night we'll be sleeping in a tipi on the Blackfeet Reservation. There'll be horseback riding, whitewater rafting, kayaking, and much hiking in the mountains. I'm from Wisconsin, no mountains here, so that makes preparing somewhat difficult. In this last challenge before the trip, I want to make some improvements while I can. The stronger I can get now, the better off I'll be for the trip. Which I am so excited for, I can hardly stand it, btw... The big issue for me at the moment is I've had a flair-up of lower back pain that hasn't bothered me in nearly a year. That sucks. It means I have to take it easy for a bit, and not do the squat challenge I was hoping to do to get my legs ready for climbing. But there's still plenty that I can do, and if my back improves, the squats can still happen. In the meantime, I thought I'd test out a few weight loss 'tips' to see if they'll help me drop a little bit for V-Day. 1. 12 Hour Food Deficit - I'm testing this dieting tip that recommends a twelve hour gap between the last thing you eat at night, and the first thing you eat in the morning. Since I'm prone to snacking at night, I think that cutting myself off by 8 or 9 pm, so I can have a timely breakfast in the morning, is a good plan. 2. Drink Water - Some calculator said I should drink 140 ounces a day, based on my weight. That seems nuts to me. I'd never leave the bathroom. But more water is supposed to be beneficial. I do drink water, but I intend to drink two cups at home in the morning, two cups before each meal - breakfast, lunch and dinner - and another in the evening before bed. That should get me at least 80 ounces of water every day, which is WAY more than I currently drink. 3. Pack Food - There are lots of temptations to be had in the world, lots of bad choices to be made at any restaurant or cafeteria, and some choices that seem good but probably aren't. So I will pack my all my food for work, that's breakfast, lunch, and snacks, and will eat my own food, 95% of the time. That should give me the allowance for occasionally eating out with friends, but not much else. This is for the best, definitely. Life Goal - Write! I'm supposed to be doing Camp NaNoWriMo right now, working for 20 hours on editing a novel I wrote a few years ago in an effort to get it published. I think I've done about an hour an a half so far, so I really need to get cooking on this one, and I need to continue that after the month is over as well. Lot's to write. So my goal is to spend at least 10 minutes per day on writing/editing. This way once I get started, I'll hopefully continue and go longer than just the 10, but at least I'll get 10 a day if nothing else. This challenge will take me 28 days closer to Glacier, and when it's done, I'll have a little less than a week to go. EEK! Better get to work!