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Slytherin House Challenge! This month i will take several classes at Hogwarts school of liftcraft and liftery. Quidditch Training: Training this month will consist of the following: Lifting x 3 per week Mobility/stretching/yoga of some kind x 3 per week 5 house points for each successful training session. Muggle Studies: Muggle studies this month is focused on language; each day i will aim to do something to increase my Romanian language knowledge. I have multiple things to choose from. Listen to one of the audio sessions, do one of the written sessions from the exercise manual, watch a film or listen to some music. Even just learning a few new words or reviewing a previous sesson. 1 house point per session. Care of magical Creatures: This class requires me to care for a magical Phoenix. My Phoenix is a horse (more the pity, a real phoenix would be cool!) Ride x 1 per week Other exercise (lunging/ free jumping) x 2 per week. He usually gets a break in the winter because i can't do cold, but December is not so bad. Jan/Feb are usually his rest months. 5 house points per successful care session. Herbology: Being vegan means all of my food (or most of it) is plant based; this class will encorporate a little potions to be successful. Cook a new meal from my recipe books 1 x per week. Eat all the food and increase calories. I don't count calories but if i eat more meals that should work. 1 house point per protein shake/bar (aim for both each day) 5 points per new meal (with photos hopefully) Free periods: Instead of lounging around the common room during free periods i will aim to be more social. I've rejoined the book club i was part of several years ago and they have a meeting on the 11th which will include a cinema trip I've also joined a meetup group for geeks and they apparently do cinema/hiking and coffee trips. Hopefully i will meet new people and not come across as an antisocial weirdo.

For the next few challenges, I am going to attend Hogwarts!!! Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Life Challenge Here's the basic plan: I've 'mapped' the Hogwarts school subjects to categories of life goals. For each challenge, I will choose at least three of these to work on; one has to be related to fitness, one to food/diet, and one to other life goals. As I progress in these challenges, I will then have a chance to earn OWLs and NEWTs in each subject, by completing a major milestone. (To see how I've mapped the subjects to life goals, open the spoiler) Challenge #1 For my first Hogwarts challenge, I shall be learning to fly! That, plus some Potions and some Charms. Flying This is usually me with flying. But no more! Complete an 'assignment' from Zombies Run! 5k at least twice a week (thrice, for extra credit!) = 10 XP each Potions Cook twice a week. = 5 XP each Charms Get up before 7:30 every day. = 3 XP each ----------------- TOTAL possible points Flying: 80 Potions: 40 Charms: 84

welcome Scouts ! I'm all out of fancy gifs for we're going simple. The Houses of Hogarts are Gryffindor - values the virtues of courage, bravery and determination Hufflepuff - values hard work, patience, justice, and loyalty Ravenclaw - values intelligence, creativity, learning, and wit Slytherin - values ambition, cunning, leadership, and resourcefulness I'll post what each house's mini on Monday/Tuesday of that week, and you pick which house you want to participate in ... its 4 weeks of challenge so you can go through all 4 houses. You can not pick the same house you picked the previous week (ie you can repeat a house after a week at another house but not two weeks at 1 house) Hopefully that makes sense Alight Scouts let's get to it!

A little bit about me, courtesy of Mini #1: I'm Yvonne, I'm 29 years old and live in the outskirts of Washington DC known as Northern Virginia. I'm married to an amazing nerdy guy who likes to push me to go biking and work out even when I don't wanna, and who and eats all my hippy paleo food without complaint. We have two twin ginger cats - Fred and George - and are thinking about adding a small human to our family within the next year or two, which is part of my motivation to get healthy. I went to a small college out in Illinois called Knox College where I majored in Computer Science, and now I work at a small company as a front end website developer. I love doing community theater; I'm currently in show for young audiences (Puss in Boots) and a charity performance parody of the X-Files, and I perform in and direct an improv troupe. 2 Truths and 1 Lie (feel free to guess in the comments!): I still have one of my baby teethI met my husband during a road trip from Chicago to New YorkI am terrified of chickens and will freak out if I'm anywhere near one It’s September and that means school is back in session at Hogwarts! Main Quest: Lose weight, be a smoking hot Wizard. Motivation: This is my last full challenge before I leave for The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in November. I’ll be spending a week between there and Disneyworld and I want to dress up, DisneyBound, take tons of pictures, and enjoy these memories without having negative body image holding me down. My goal is be at 150lbs by the time we leave. As of now, I have 8 weeks and about 9lbs to lose, so the pressure is on! In order to achieve my main quest, I’m enrolling in four classes this term at Hogwarts: Potions: 100% Primal Diet (CON 3, WIS 1) Recipe for a perfect potion: No grains, legumes, or added sugarNo more than 3 servings of dairy a weekNo more than 2 compliant alcoholic beverages per weekNo more than 1 starchy vegetable per dayThis is a Pass/Fail only class! Flying: Bike 100 miles (STA 3, DEX 1) Proper flying technique can only be achieved through practice! Throughout the term, students will log 100 miles on thier broom bicycle. Outstanding: 100 miles! Exceeds Expectations: 75+ miles Acceptable: 60+ miles Dreadful: 40+ miles Troll: Less than 40 miles Transfiguration: Follow the Stronglifts 5x5 Program (STR 3, STA 1) The art of turning something into something else – in this case, fat into muscle! Follow the Stronglifts 5x5 regimen to increase muscle and burn fat. This class should be attended 3 times a week. Outstanding: 18 sessions Exceeds Expectations: 15 sessions Acceptable: 12 sessions Dreadful: 6 sessions Troll: Less than 6 sessions Charms: Downsize 25% of clothing (CHA 2) This class will be focused on Banishing and Mending charms: over the course of the term, students should successfully banish 25% of their wardrobe and practice mending charms when needed. For a passing OWL, every item of clothing must be evaluated, 25% of clothing will be donated, and no items requiring mending will remain. A revision schedule of clothing areas to work on has been provided below the cut: Outstanding: All 5 areas cleared Exceeds Expectations: 4 areas cleared Acceptable: 3 areas cleared Dreadful: 2 areas cleared Troll: 0 - 1 areas cleared Charms Extra Credit: Put together one Disney/Hogwarts Bounding outfit per week - take a photo and share with the class! (CHA 1)

Hermione was an excellent muse for me last challenge, so it seemed wise to continue in her footsteps. There are some big changes coming up for me. I'm moving half way across the country in 3 weeks to an entirely new place for the next phase in my training. There is a lot of packing, orienting, and studying that need to happen. I do not want to use that as an excuse to lose all the momentum I have re-established, but I also do not want to slip into my perfection-or-total-failure, black-and-white mindset. My health is a long journey (like studying magic) that I will continue to pursue despite the distractions that are bound to come. In the fourth book, the students of Hogwarts must continue their studies while the excitement and challenge of the Triwizard Tournament distracts them. Hermione is able to focus and succeed at both, as well as campaigning for the rights of house elves. I aspire to that level of resilience! Main Quest – Resilience 1) Defense Against the Dark Arts Constant vigilance against Mindless Eating! Last challenge I completed a whole 30 in order to break my carb addiction, again. It was quite successful (I have not even weighed myself yet). However, already I am slipping back into old ways and overeating at social events for no good reason. I want to focus on the "slow roll reintroduction" described in Dallas and Melissa Hartwig's new book Whole 30. The basic idea is to continue eating according to the whole 30 rules except when you encounter something that you think is "worth it". Try not to mix a bunch of different types of food (dairy, gluten, and tons of sugar seems to be a danger for me). Stay mindful! I need to pay particular attention to my psychologic response to various foods, since I am lucky enough not to feel horrible when I break paleo. 2) Charms Kettlebell Workout Twice Per Week I want to work dedicated strength training back into my routines. My challenges with it in the past have been complicated regimens that have tons of reps of the same thing and get boring. I think kettlebells may be an antidote to this. Pavel's Simple and Sinister workout is attractive to me. I want to ease into it though and make sure that I have a focus on good form, since these movements are mostly new to me. I plan to start with 5x10 swings with my 20lb bell and 5x1 Turkish Get Ups with no weight (!) for the first week. Then, as long as I am feeling ready, I will add 10 swings and make one of the TGUs weighted each week. By the end, I may be ready for a new heavier bell! 3) Transfiguration – Mindfulness Formal mindfulness practice every day. Mindfulness lets me change my perspective and approach to my thoughts. I want to return to more rigorous daily practice with the headspace app. Triwizard Tournament For these tasks (side goals), I'm going to try some good old fashioned shiny object chasing! I will work on yoga throughout the challenge with my goal to complete and post each of these poses by the end. Remember, progress not perfection. First Task - Dragon Pose Second Task – Mermaid Pose All right! Let's do this!!