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About two months ago I started tracking calories and macros on MFP, aiming to (a) increase protein intake and (b) lose some weight (currently 70kg and feel better around 65). My daily calorie intake has ranged from 1300-1550; protein from 71g-117g (better more recently). I cycle to work (20-25minutes total 5 days a week), I train for powerlifting 3/4 times a week, and occasionally go to spin or yoga. While my protein intake has gone up now that I'm tracking,and training has been going fine, my weight has been pretty much static; 70kg +/-1. This is a pain as I do feel I'm restricting what I eat. Trouble is, if I go to an IIFYM calculator it tells me that my BMR is 1400 and my TDEE ~1700; that if I want to lose weight I should be eating 1500/day i.e.: more than what MFP tells me I'm currently eating. MFP, fwiw, tells me I should be eating ~1300 calories/day to lose weight. So something is off, right? I see three hypotheses: 1) I'm not tracking calories correctly (therefore my calorie intake is higher than the numbers are showing). 2) I'm tracking calories correctly, but I'm not eating enough so my body is holding on to fat - is this a thing? Tracking food intake is a massive pain (psychologically) and I'd rather not, but I need the protein intake - which I find it hard to get without tracking - and I would like to lose some of this extra weight. Does anyone have experience with this - what did you do?

Deffy the Vampire Slayer Season One Deffy vs The Master: The Harvest I may be taking a break from wrestling challenges but it doesn't mean I am going to stop ass kicking. In fact, there are some throwbacks in this challenge to stuff I started this time last year. More on that later So this series of challenges will take a different format to how I have been doing my challenges recently. There are 6 challenges left of 2016, one for each season of Buffy if we forget Riley existed. Which we do. There will be some minor spoilers so if you haven't seen Buffy yet why are we friends? you might want to reconsider following this challenge but dudes and dudettes, it's been, like, TWENTY YEARS the statute of spoiler limitations must have run out by now. So for this challenge my main foe is The Master as he was the Big Bad in Buffy season one. Deffy's nemesis is carbs. They have been the downfall of many a hot booty and this hot booty is no exception. To defeat The Master, I have to keep eating my bastardised version of paleo, but The Master is not the only villain of this season. I will battle two or three different foes each week, split into different days ahead of time so I have a proper schedule. The Main Goals Fitness Goals 1. Continue following the bastardised version of paleo but also count calories too. I want a total deficit of 25,000 calories by the last day of the challenge 2. Do 100 elliptical KMs 3. Lift 15 times 4. Get 1,500 total fitness minutes by the last day of the challenge. Life Goals 1. Finish my online Panini Euro 2016 sticker album, preferably before my boyfriend (The Heron, or TH from now on) currently at 71% vs TH's 67% 2. Finish all outstanding gifts. I had a fault on my sewing machine but now that's done I can crack on. I'm only a whole month late.... 3. Make sure my books are up to date and submit my tax declaration for the last tax year. 4. Finish current book (The Dust that Falls from Dreams by Louis de Bernieres) and read another one in full. 5. Get to at least 80% on my huge History of the World book on Kindle. 6. Oil pull 15 times (it's a coconut oil/mouth thing) Kicketh Some Ass Also this challenge I will be roughhousing with TH again. We tried wrestling each other last year and we had a lot of fun but this year I want to kick it up a notch and actually learn some self defence. I have wanted to train with TH for ages but his fitness level is not what mine is and he isn't too keen on the idea of attending classes so I am going to try and tempt him with some home lessons and online tutorials in the hope he gets the bug and we can move to bigger and better things. At the very least I am going to buy some boxing punching mitts so he can help me with drills. I am also continuing my quest to get a majorly hot booty. I want mine to rival Jen Selter's: and I will not stop my mission until it does. I have this weird thing where I make TH judge my butt and give me a 'Percentage to Jen Selter' score and I currently stand at 42% Seltered. I'd like to reach at least 50% by the end of this challenge. Another challenge! LETS GO!

What's up, nerds? I'm back for another go. A little background for those who don't know me: I train for strength in the powerlifting lifts, but for the moment I don't compete. This will likely change once I establish more order in my professional and personal life. I train for health, looks, confidence, and the thrill of it. I am a disciple of IIFYM - no paleo, clean eating, or what have you. I'm an engineer, so I take an analytical approach to fitness. I finished my first challenge, but got really busy toward the end and never wrote up my reflections on it. In a nutshell, I learned the following: My self-made programming is working, but I've made a few refinements, eliminating my "bodybuilding" accessory days in favor of incorporating OHP and barbell rows back into my program. I started with StrongLifts 5X5 and what I do has evolved out of there. I want to increase my knowledge and wisdom regarding strength training and programming. I've been eating too much and have been sloppy with my cheat meals. This was particularly true after the conclusion of the challenge I did back in May. At my worst I was 219lbs at 5'10. A nasty past week of stomach bug brought me down to 208, which I've been holding at for the past two days even after bringing my calories back up. I look a lot better and oddly enough, didn't get much weaker. I am seeking to lose more fat. I may have mild insomnia, so my sleep goal was futile. Things have improved since the last challenge, but I am not going to force a sleep goal. I will get into bed when my daily tasks are complete and sleep as it comes to me. Having three gym memberships is awesome and I've learned how to take advantage of the strengths of each one at their least crowded hours. Main Quest Increase strength in the powerlifts without becoming too fat. "Too fat" for the moment is a self assessment of how I look and feel. I aim to make it more quantifiable in the future. Quest Goals 1. Training - Perform the following lifts each week: Squat 1: Performed at the beginning of the week - Sets of 4 if I just increased the weight / Complete a 5X5 before increasing the weight 5lbs. Bench 1: Performed at the beginning of the week - Sets of 4 if I just increased the weight / Complete a 5X5 before increasing the weight 5lbs. Squat 2: Performed after Squat 1 and Bench 1 - Doubles if I just increased the weight / Complete a 5X3 before increasing the weight 5lbs. Bench 2: Performed after Squat 1 and Bench 1 - Doubles if I just increased the weight / Complete a 5X3 before increasing the weight 5lbs. Deadlift: Performed on the weekend after a rest day. Start with triples until I can work up to a 5X5 before increasing the weight 10lbs. I haven't been deadlifting that much, so I just came up with this - I will make adjustments as necessary. OHP: Performed during the same training session as one of the bench days (depending on equipment availability). 3X6-8 trying to increase the weight by 5lbs as I can. Barbell Rows: Performed during the same training session the other bench day. 3X6-8 trying to increase the weight by 5lbs as I can. 2. Macros - Track daily with MyFitnessPal. Two cheat meals, not days, allowed per week: Pizza Wednesday at work and one per weekend. Calories: 2900-3100kcal Protein: At least 200g Fat: 25-30% of my daily calories Carbs: Unrestricted as long as the above are met Adjust as necessary based on strength, appearance, knowledge gained. 3. Reading - Read three books this challenge: The Art of Lifting by Greg Nuckols The Science of Lifting by Greg Nuckols Gorilla Mindset by Mike Cernovich 4. Nail Biting - Stop doing it. I'll be photographing my nails at the end of each week to keep myself accountable.

Bro's and Swolemaidens, Its been too long. And I need to awaken from my Br0din sleep. When you last saw your lifting god in action, I was adjusting to a new boss, new work internet restrictions and figuring out tapatalk (why do I keep getting unsubscribed from treads!!!!) In the last 6 weeks: 1. supported the wife in her whole 30 quest. Cooking was fun, food tasty, but I stalled my weight loss cause I didn't count cals, because I didn't want to stress her out. Turns out she didn't whole 30 almost perfectly. 2. A coworker past away. Being the good guy I am, I volunteered to come in to work 2 hours earlier (that's 4AM now) to help cover his shift until new people can be hired and trained. 3. A manager asked me if I was interested in a position that he was trying to hire for the last 3 months. I think I'm a shoe in for it, but patience is a virtue. 4. 5-3-1 has been very successful for my bench strength. I don't mean to brag, but I got new PR's of 5@290lbs and 3@315. So, now to the future. 1. Count all the cals so I can get down to 205. (today, I'm at 217.4, but was at 212 10 days ago) 2. Continue 5-3-1 for bench. Be awesome. 3. Get Tan. stop looking like this: and start looking like this: So, shirt off tanning oil on, and play my stupid phone game out in the sun. 4. troll @Flex Luthor as every opportunity presents itself. 5. get sleep, don't be afraid to take a day off from the gym Yeah, your right. Sleep when your dead. Gym now.

Hello everybody and welcome to my lifting log. I will post my workouts and other important stuff here to keep myself accountable and to have a place where I can go back in a year or so and see how far I have come. I don't really want to write a long introduction so here are my starting stats: Age: 26 Height: 183 cm Weight: 100 kg Deadlift: 160 kg Squat: 125 kg Bench: 95 kg Press: 70 kg I have been lifting about one year now and have been on different programms but for the future I just want to keep it very simple and standard. I workout 3 days a week and I will do the big compound exercises. At the moment I am doing Deadlift, Squats, Bench, Press and Chins. Diet wise I am folowing the IIFYM approcach because that is the only approach I can stick to longterm and it is working good for me so far. I started the year with 106 kg and my goal weight is something around 85 kg. At the moment dropping fat is more important than getting my lifts up but I try to still progress on my lifts. I want to get my bodyfat from ~ 20% down to ~12%. For my lifts my goal is to reach a wilks score of 300. If you have any more questions then just hit me up. It is late night here and I am too tired to go into more detail. So far, margo

Brothern and Swolemadien, When I started 4 weeks ago, this was my mental spot But last Challenge I get back to fighting shape, but not close enough to where I want to be. So, lets keep the momentum going Fitness/nutrition Q1: Gym all the time, but don’t be afraid to take rest days, don’t be afraid to take some days off if the lower back feels strained. Snowboarding counts as a gym day Q2: Do Physical Therapy every day, even on days not going to the gym. Q3: Track all the foods and eat at a deficit. Superbowl Sunday will be the reward day for this awesomeness. Q4: Post before and after progress pics to show awesomeness achieved. LUYL: When there is fuck around time at work, take the free classes that they give me and stop surfing the internet. and of course Gotta have fun.

In the terrifying hellscape that is my imagination, I am a Diva employed by WWE at the top of my game and I am such a badass, I don't even have to star in Total Divas. I have held the Diva's title for 26 days so far and I am aiming to beat Nikki Bella's 301 day record. And just because I like you all, have a booty gif. The Rules for the Title Reign: To retain the title, I have to perform on every TV show (Raw, NXT and Smackdown), as well as every televised special (eg Beast in the East) and PPV. In order to perform, I have to complete a cardio session - at least a 30 minute elliptical session for every day the TV show airs. I can move these days around if I need to but the idea is that I will 'perform' every Monday (Raw), Wednesday (NXT) and Thursday (Smackdown). I have created a roster of 50 female wrestlers, all the current batch, along with some important ones from yesteryear and each person has an exercise session attached to them. For every show I perform on, I roll dice to determine if it will be a title defence, and if it is, I have to complete that wrestler's exercise session in addition to my own cardio in order to retain the belt. PPVs are always title defences. My other long term goal is to get the Best Ass in England (excluding Greater London)TM and I am trying to accomplish this with Project: Best Ass (henceforth referred to as P:BA) which is a strength training regime targeting my booty. This Challenge Goal One - Tye Dillinger's Perfect 10 (plus ten multiplied by a thousand) (Did I just win the prize for most tenuous sub-goal title?) Have a deficit of 20,000 15,000 (due to injury) calories by the penultimate day of the challenge. Goal Two - Get Bull Fit Get at least 100 75 (due to injury) km in mileage (kilometreage?) on the elliptical. Goal Three - No Sexual Chocolate I have done this before but it worked so ZERO CHOCOLATE. Which reminds me, I still have chocolate left from Christmas I should probably offload... Goal Four - Basic (Eco)Thuganomics Stick to monthly budget, don't make any frivolous purchases and don't buy anything new to wear (with two exceptions, the perfect black denim jacket should I come across it and a chunky, mustard coloured cardigan because I have been looking for the perfect one of these since forever) YEAH, FEBRUARY! LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Hey you guys, remember when I became the best male wrestler in history last spring/summer and continued the Undertaker's Wrestlemania win streak? That was fun, wasn't it? So this year I am trying to achieve this: Wait, no - not the healthy butt. Although of course P:BA (achieve the best ass in England not including Greater London) is still very much a goal. My quest for this year is to beat the record for holding the Divas title. The current record belongs to Nikki Bella and her reign was 301 days. (hey, if WWE can completely forget about The Fabulous Moolah's 8 year reign then so can I). I have to perform on every TV show (Raw, NXT and Smackdown), as well as every televised special (eg Beast in the East) and PPV. In order to perform, I have to complete a cardio session - usually a 40 minute elliptical session for every day the TV show airs. I can move these days around if I need to but the idea is that I will 'perform' every Monday (Raw), Wednesday (NXT) and Thursday (Smackdown). I have created a roster of 50 female wrestlers, all the current batch, along with some important ones from yesteryear and each person has an exercise session attached to them. For every show I perform on, I roll dice to determine if it will be a title defence, and if it is, I have to complete that wrestler's exercise session in addition to my own cardio in order to retain the belt. I also have to perform at every PPV and televised special where there is always a title defence. I have to do this for at least 302 days beginning 4th January so this challenge should take me up to 1st November 2016. These rules will stand even when I am not on a challenge. This is my main fitness quest that will determine the cardio element of my workout schedule for most of this year. ONTO THE CHALLENGE! Goal One - Wake up, it's Feeding Time When combined with intermittent fasting, IIFYM is like supercharging my fat burning furnaces so I will calorie count and eat whatever I want as long as it fits my macros. Stick to calories every day - graded as a percentage Goal Two - Don't be a Lemon! I have never been convinced on the 8 glasses a day thing. All it seems to do is make me pee all the time, so my goal is to drink 5 glasses of approved liquids (shut up, Scotty) which includes herbal/green tea and water. I also want to eat 3 portions of freggies a day - scaled down from my usual 5 because I fast. Graded as a percentage based on days passed. Goal Three - Never Give Up I have populated my training schedule with my title defences, the Doodlies workout-based challenges and P:BA and NF Yoga so all I need to do is make sure I follow it. Graded as a percentage based on days passed. Goal Four - DON'T YOU DARE BE SOUR! This year I am really making efforts to check my negative self talk and leave that shit in 2015. I am going to work towards a more positive way of viewing myself and the world around me. Every day, I will ask myself if sunbeams are coming out of my face today, and if they are, I get a big ol' tick for that day. Also graded as a percentage based on days passed. The pass rate for each goal is 75% so if I achieve that I can have full points in each. I am not sure how the stats are going to work going forward with the new character thing but the idea is points are scaled down for anything I get under 75%. I am also doing two more adventures - firstly, I am trying KonMari (YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE, TERAH!) and I am also trying a different method of scheduling my time with my Passion Planner. In addition to this, I am trying to knock off tasks from the Roadmap I made last year and although not worth points this challenge I am going to document all of that here because if I try to do it on a Battle Log I end up just ignoring it in favour of the challenges and it ends up looking all sad and neglected. So I think that's it. Mega shout out to DarK_RaideR for helping me brainstorm ways to make this challenge more awesome although he might notice I left a lot of amazing stuff out (guess what my mega challenge will be next year? ) Another special mention goes to Doc Viking for services to excellent booties. Let's do this thing!

Brothern and Swole Maidens, I have been asleep for too long And allowed Broki to run amuck. Time to wake up and get back into fitness and stop eating everything and getting my drinky drinky on But now is a new year, and new start and time to stop this and pay for our sins But, the goals are still the same: Fitness/nutrition Q1: Gym all the time, but don’t be afraid to take rest days, don’t be afraid to take some days off if the lower back feels strained. Snowboarding counts as a gym day Q2: Do Physical Therapy every day, even on days not going to the gym. Q3: Track all the foods and eat at a deficit. Superbowl Sunday will be the reward day for this awesomeness. Q4: Post before and after progress pics to show awesomeness achieved. LUYL: When there is fuck around time at work, take the free classes that they give me and stop surfing the internet.

So after almost two years of no serious competition (TBH the Scottish Judo Open was more an experiment in seeing if I could still cut weight like a pro) I'm returning to competition. My first will most likely be a judo grading as the London IBJJF Open is a bit out of my league, bearing in mind I have to fight at blue belt. "Gentle means tired" was a favourite phrase used during competition preparation at the judo club, and right now I'm gentle very often. Sport Specific Activity: I'm already at classes regularly but I shy away a bit during rolling, people are gentle and won't hurt me. I can get in on this. Goal: Rolling and Randori - aim for only sitting out one round max. ( STA - 2) Conditioning: I have a conditioning program in place that will help me with power output in competition. I just have to actually do it three times a week. I will also keep up the drills from my previous challenge and shift the focus on inversion and DLR/ Spider guard drills. Goal: conditioning program 3xpw (STA - 3) Goal: Morning drills 4xpw (DEX - 5) Healthy Eating: This is where IIFYM goes back to "if it fits your macros" and not "if it fits your mouth" Goal: Keep avg calories below 1900 (as I'm still needing to lose extra bulk weight ;_; ) (CON - 2) Respecting the Men Folk: To put it bluntly, I'm good at respecting them in a sporting sense but not in a relationship sense. Over the past six months I have upset many of the men folk by really just not caring. The worst part was calling out another black belt (who I really should have respected as being the same level) purely because of the dating scenario presented. Worked out OK and mutual respect developed. This incident made me realise I'd gone a bit weird. I just haven't got round to do anything about it till not. Goal: Keep trolling, teasing and "Fite me bro" to a level that doesn't cause angry texts and getting ignored. (CHA - 3)

Make Like a Gecko and Stick to It!! Thanks to some perspective from KB Girl, I realized that the last challenge actually went ok, even though it wasn't perfect. This one will be more of the same ol', same ol', but for now that's what I need to focus on. 1 ~ The Plan Monday, Wednesday, Friday - strengthy stuff Tuesday, Thursday, one weekend day - cardio Strengthy stuff is as follows: Fire Hydrants - no real goal here, but I'd like to try it with resistance again Elbow Planks - ultimate goal of 3 minutes, my best is 2 minutes, but not consistently Superman Squats - no real goal here either, though I'd like to eventually be able to do a shrimp squat. I don't really seem to be progressing though, mainly due to balance, I think Pushups - ultimate goal is 37 or more knee pushups all in one go (a requirement for a police test), but for now I'm working on them by doing 3 sets of max real(max knee) Body Weight Rows - as a progression towards a pullup some day Hip Thrusts - related to another police test requirement, but some weird injury is making these painful. If the injury continues to not get better I may just grin and bear it Cardio consists of running on Tuesdays and a weekend day, and hockey on Thursdays. I've sort of signed up for 1/2 time ringette too, but I'm already thinking this may be a mistake (just doing too much). I haven't paid yet so I can back out any time, but I dunno.... 2 ~ Bedtime Go to bed when I should, get up when I should. This means TV off by midnight and up by 9am Sunday-Thursday, and 1am/10am Friday-Satruday. If I'm not sleepy, the TV still goes off and I can read a magazine or Sherlock Holmes story instead. By 'up by 9am' I mean actually get up when the alarm goes off, rather than laying in bed for 30 minutes like I have been... 3 ~ Sempre Gumby Stretch daily. Follow the Focused Flexibility for hamstrings and shoulders (I'll stick with the hamstring ones I've been doing, but will probably change up at least one of the shoulder ones). Instead of changing things up every two weeks like the program says, stick with it for the full six weeks of the challenge, then reassess and change if I can/if I want to. 4 ~ Pudge-B-Gone Still eat healthy, more or less according to the IIFYM idea. Try to track a bit more, with a daily goal of ~1600kcal. 5 ~ Take Note I'm good about posting here to keep myself honest, but I've gotten away from the weekly Sum-Ups and grading. I think doing these things would help me be a little more, I dunno the word but, like, pay attention more. You get the idea. And that is all.

Seriously. I tried to be cute. But I just couldn't do one. Hi. I'm Shynnee. I am a 34 year old stay at home mom determined to set a good example for my daughter and live a fit, healthy life. This will be my second challenge. I didn't complete the first one through a series of excuses and hard situations. But I just successfully completed a 30 day respawn and I am back on track. Currently I am 4 weeks in to the beginner Strong Curves program. I go to the gym 4 days a week as I work my way through the program. I am already seeing awesome success in my abilities as well as small changes in my body. Unfortunately I am sabotaging all of my hard work by eating like I'll never see food again and as a result I have not lost any weight besides the 5lbs I keep yo-yoing around. So, my main quest is focusing on a healthy diet and I will include side quests regarding my fitness. Main Quest: Meal prep lunch and snacks for my family every week. Plan dinners in advance on Sunday for the whole week Log all food into MyFitnessPal Side Quests: Attend the gym 4 days per week. During this challenge I will be in weeks 4-9 of the Strong Curves beginner program Log 10,000 steps per day using Fitbit tracker Run 1 mile in under 13 minutes. Current best 9/13/2015 -13:56, 9/17/2015 -13:21 I don't have a scoring system but my accountability for food will be via photos and screenshots. I'm a visual person, so if you have help and suggestions, especially with food, please try to include a photo! Editing post to include starting stats: Height 5'4'' Weight 211 - 10/10 - 207 Bench: 40lbs - 10/10 60lbs Squat: bodyweight 9/21 - 25lbs 10/10 - 35lbs Romanian Deadlift: 50lbs Measurements (in inches) as of 9/22/2015: Thigh-29 Hip-48 Waist-43 Chest-46 Arm-14 Mini #1

Here we are at the beginning of a new year. It's a time that I spend like Janus - looking both back and forwards. Thinking about what I've accomplished and using that reflection to plan out the new year. Unlike most of the population, I do pretty well at keeping "New Year's Resolutions" because I have a plan. And I have this group to help encourage me to follow through. (Thank you!) Prior Years2013 - The Return of the JediI stopped GAINING weight and starting working up to running and doing strength training again. Really, I’d let all workouts and sports slide since about 2005 (when the Temple of the Jedi online group that I had run imploded and I lost my confidence and focus). I didn’t run any of obstacle course races that I planned that year, despite Cline's excellent coaching. In fact, I didn’t run any races at all that year since I kept spraining my formerly-broken ankle. But I kept recovering and training. I didn't give up - and that was a major accomplishment. I had gotten heavily into emotional eating and lots of wine while working on my doctorate - so this was a watershed year for improvements in my diet. I wasn’t perfect (I still struggle with eating and drinking when stressed), but I woke up and started making better choices most of the time. I probably improved my BF %, but I wasn't measuring it yet. 2014 - The Quest for the Mal RavenneThis was a good year. I lost 14 pounds and dropped from 37.33% to 33.5% body fat during the year. I can now run a 5K straight. And I am able to do pull-ups with only 1/2 of my weight in assistance on the pull-up machine. I deadlifted 85 pounds for the first time. I have been much better at eating healthy foods, drinking water, and cutting WAY back on both coffee and wine. I think I am finally turning my life around and setting a good base for getting BACK to being the person I want to be. Weight at start of 2015: 167.1 lbs and body fat % ~ 33.5%. I’d been down to 165, but it bounced back up over the holidays. I will have to be really very good the rest of this week in order to win my t-shirt at the gym!!! Overarching goal for 2015: weight <= 149 lbs and body fat % <= 31%, although I certainly hope to do better than that. I’m setting monthly milestones instead of challenge milestones right now. I can figure out the goal weight for each challenge from that. How will I do it??Running: increase my long run from 3 to 5 miles each week and continue 5K race training as in 2014. I've been pretty steady in the running/cardio category, but I also now have a full-time job again and will need to adjust. I am thinking that I may actually become morning runner again. Strength training: prep for OCRs based on Fitocracy’s Tough Mudder training guide and a gradual progression of some basic strength training exercises. Strength training is one of the things that I really don't tend to enjoy, but I like the results. It will be a lot of upper body work and basics like deadlifts and squats. But also things like planks and Jacob's Ladder and climbing at the local climbing wall. Oh yea, I also hate heights. Better get good at burpees. Eat like I give a f*uck: IIFYM + Loseit.com Premium + Thug Kitchen cookbook. Seriously, my daughter gave me this cookbook for Christmas, and it is a fun read. But it also has great recipes for making basics (like ketchup) from scratch so that you have healthy alternatives for most things. The cookbook is vegan - I don't intend to go completely vegan, although I never had a weight problem when I was a vegetarian. I honestly don't think GRAINS are the problem with the US industrial diet. Refined foods - especially corn syrup are. Yes, throw things at me for blasphemy, but I'm going to focus on cooking up a good omnivore diet that focuses much more on vegetables and whole grains than meat ..... and in true Rebel fashion, we'll see what happens. Supporting GoalsHave an adventure every weekDo one each of these:Charity 5Ks (TBD)Mother's Day Walk (2 miles)Bubble Run http://www.bubblerun.com/events/minneapolis/Color Run http://thecolorrun.com/twin-cities/Light Run http://www.torchlight5k.com/page/show/502315-event-infoZombies Run TBDWarrior Dash https://www.warriordash.com/location/2015-warrior-dash-minnesota/Spartan Sprint TBDTough Mudder https://toughmudder.com/events/2015-twin-citiesArcheology/Ancient History trip .... MAYBE. This is a stretch goal because of the new job. I need to do the cruise and possibly a wedding this year; so I'm not sure where another vacation will fit into 2015.Cruise to AlaskaHiking the local trails, especially the Superior Hiking TrailIngress!!!Geocaching100 geocachesHide cachesTravel bugs Overcome my two left feetI am generally clumsy and have been since I matured quickly and young. Karate classes helped me improve greatly - and I want to get back to feeling like I move easily and gracefully through my environment again. Wear contacts - peripheral vision really helps me, but I have trouble getting contacts that I can use day in and day out. We never can quite get the fit and the prescription right. Yoga - I had been dreaming that I was doing the crow pose. Why?? No clue. But I'm interested in doing hand balancing, in large part because high school gym class was a nightmare that I'd like to overcomeDance classesMartial arts classesParkourClimbingHandstands!!!(Re)build a baseAfter moving, it takes a while to figure out where everything goes. A lot of my basement gym stuff got tossed in a corner - it's time to find places for all of it and start using it. Also ... other tools need to be purchased. I really like LoseIt's minimal frills interface and vetted nutrition information, and since I'm tackling the difficult task of losing weight while building muscle, I need to pay attention to intake and macros.Pullup bar installed (Thanks to hubby, this one is done before the challenge starts!)LoseIt! premium membershipClean out and organize the kitchen - then use it!Make my own sandbag(s)750words.com?Basement workout areaGarage gymAgility training locationObstacle training locationParkour trainingGet my mojo back This goal has "underpants gnome" written all over it. I know it. But a BIG part of being fit - for me - means winning the HEAD game as much as fixing my kitchen or creating a workable exercise plan. I KNOW how to be fit. I have been very fit at different times in my life, and then something happens, and it all falls apart. So, my first challenge goal will be to put myself on the couch through writing 750 words PER DAY, exploring what factors support and which factors derail my healthy lifestyle. 750 words per day (http://750words.com/???) “on the couch†and see what comes up in terms of goals and barriersOther challenges .... TBD

In judo, we have a laugh during unilateral work where we say "warriors don't wobble." Which is really appropriate here since I'm probably more of a warrior branching back into monk stuff for something that'll become official later in the year. A couple of years ago grappling took a step back so I could get to grips with equipped lifting, but It's something I have a lot of fun doing and I'm getting my conditioning back up and looking to compete properly again. Drills Recent training has highlighted that while I have good instincts and a good base from TKD and Judo I really need to understand and being able to drill some basic movements other than shrimp and arm bar (it got a a 1st dan in Judo but it's gonna take more in BJJ.) Goals: By the end of week one, have a program for movement drills to be done in the morning and do these drills for the six week challenge. Gym I needed a new gym, I just didn't get on board with the philosophy at my last gym. I got some good advice at the weekend about gym loyalty and the fact that I was gaining so much from my adventures in visiting lots of new gyms and learning from different perspectives. Lets face it, cross training is why I took up BJJ in the first place. Goals: Find a new gym/ gyms and train there consistently during the challenge. At least one fundamentals per week and one rolling. Sleep I will need at least eight hours a day if I'm working morning sessions back in. Goals: 8 hours a day and up at 7am for morning drills. More Fruit Bulking out my macros with micro rich food seems to work well for my body composition. And without coming across as big headed I'm starting to tread into a territory where that extra 5% in performance is going to matter. My micros and macros need to fit now. Goals: aim for at least 5 a day with two being fruit portions. Some pretty pictures to make it interesting.

Like the movie namesake, I'm starting over. All the way to the bottom. Current Motivation: Weightloss challenge at work, based on percentage lost. Had our first weigh in and I came in second with 5.1% lost in a month. The challenge ends Sept 1st, and I think I can win the long term. No more weigh ins until the end of the challenge, so we'll see, but over the long run I think I might have the advantage. The others have the most to lose, as I came in at the lightest. So how will I do this? Goals: 1. SL5x5 My training has been without a structure for the most part the last few months, due to madness and indecisiveness. SL5x5 is a great program to start from and I feel the volume is a good amount for those starting out. The goal here is to start with just the bar and workout following the linearization everyday until the workouts take longer than 30 min. I also add in some light upper body accessory work, because my upper body is my weakest link. 2. Nutrition Currently following 1600 calories with at around 120-160g of protein, and keeping carbs low under 75g. I plan to increase calories slowly, 100 calories (in either fat or carbs) every two weeks. The goal here is to find a point where i still lose weight, but without the draining effect of prolonged 1600 calories. By the end of the challenge, the weight should be at least 198lbs. 3. Perform 3 extended walks with a weighted bag each week. I've been "rucking" a weighted backpack at approx. 25lbs. I must also log each walk with some type of tracker to get distance and speed. 4. Do something productive at home after work, daily. This is easy, just do something productive at home every day.

I had a pretty good year in 2014 and am starting 2015 with the aim of building on last year's successes and surpassing them. Heck, I'd like to sink the battleship with how well I'm going to blow my goals out of the water in 2015!! This first challenge of 2015 is aimed at locking in on what worked so that I can do more of it .... and gathering up tools that will support my progress toward attaining at "normal" weight of 149 lbs by the end of the year. And about 30% body fat .... which should be a very nice, feasible goal that I hope to sweep past long before we're thinking about egg nog again. 1) Major goals for this first challenge to lose weight & body fat to get down to 164 lbs and 33.4% BF by:keeping to my macros (from IIFYM.com) and calorie goals as reported on loseit.com (link in signature)Maintaining my running plan - doing some cardio at least 6 times each week, but usually working on components from 5K training plans - I'm an experienced runner; so 6 days a week is feasible, and I know when to let the body have a break.Strength training 3 times per week … doing a mix of bw, free weights, and oddball things in preparation for obstacle course races. Check out my plans at Fitocracy.com (see link in my signature)At stake: 1 WIS, 1 CON, 1 STA, 1 STR, 1 DEXScoring: a percentage based on how close I come to meeting the weight and bf% goals. No score for effort - gotta achieve the endpoint!! Other goals in support of the major goal 2) Do something fun & adventurous each week. I need to get out of the house, challenge myself to meet people, and do things to get out of my cocoon. Keep in mind that my life is pretty tame. If I got out to geocache or do some wall climbing, that's an adventure.At stake: 2 CHAScoring: percentage of how many times I get out for an adventure out of the goal of 6. 3) Wear my contacts!!!! I'm going to try daily wear contacts since I really don't want to do obstacle courses (or karate class) wearing glasses. I need to pick up the new prescription, but I can slip in my old monthly pairs until I get to the eye doctor's clinic.At stake: 2 DEXScoring: percentage of the number of days I at least wear them at least some of the day. 4) Expand the garrison!! Get/make stuff I need in order to do the rest. I've already started!!!Pullup bar installedLoseIt! premium membership750words.comClean out and organize the kitchen - then use it!Basement workout areaMake a sandbagAt stake: 2 WIS, 1 CHAScoring: percentage completion 5) Write 750 words per day. One big theme is how to get my mojo back, but I may wander anywhere I like with those 750 words. I might even start to write on my research again!!At stake: 3 WIS

I guess this is partly a IIFYM kind of question. I've been scared of carbs for about 5 years now. As a 21 year old girl, I may have done a bit of metabolic and hormonal damage which I'm not sure if it stems from VLC. Id like to hear other people's thoughts on this http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2546975/One-twin-gave-sugar-gave-fat-Their-experiment-change-YOUR-life.html Not the obvious 'fat plus sugar is what's fattening' but more about the effects on energy and brain function. Has anyone switched from low to high carb and experienced better/a return of mental capacity? Ive been low carbing for so long that I can't recall my baseline functionality previous to my diet change.

Hey guys! I've been seeing a bunch of stuff about the IIFYM way of eating and basically it's that you eat really whatever as long as it fits your calorie and macro goals. When following this I of course would not be eating pizza and candy, but I do like that if I wanted to sneak that extra piece of chocolate cake in once in a while I can. I've had some problems lately with binging at night and I feel like it's because I'm not getting the right ratio of macros, so I am kind of intrigued by IIFYM. The one issue, though, is that I am a runner and am currently training for a marathon. Is this way of eating okay for a runner, or is it more for people who lift/ do less cardio? Also, how would I adjust my macros on days where I have long runs (i.e. 17 miles)? The macros I have would not be enough to cover a day on which I do a run like that. Anyways, my macros are: 1630 calories 225 g carbs 96 g protein 19-24 g fiber 38.8 g fat I'm petite, 5'1" and 96-97 lbs, and am looking to maintain my weight. So what do you guys think about doing IIFYM? Any other suggestions? Opinions? Experiences? Thanks so much!

Hi, I'm reynalia. I'm getting back into fitness after recovering from an injury for so long. I missed this challenge (Set 15th - Oct 26th) so I'm making a log. I will record my workouts. I started Starting Strength a few weeks ago, and am continuing strong. Still steadily increasing my lifts. Current lifts: Squat 100lbs 105lbs 110lbs 115lbs Bench 70lbs 75lbs Deadlift 100lbs 105lbs 110lbs 115lbs Press 50lbs 55lbs Main goal: Get a better body and be in great condition for ultimate Goals: (going to incorporate this into my first challenge coming up soon) 1)Starting Strength 3x a Week 2) Stretch back occasionally and foam roll at least 2x a week 3) Weekly track workout for ultimate Current stats: L Arm 10.5in (flexed)R Arm 10.5 in (flexed)Waist 24in (smallest point)Chest 31inAbdomen 26.5in (belly button)Hip 35 in L thigh 21inR Thigh 21 inL Calf 13.5inR Calf 13.5inWeight: 114 Current macros:Carbs 190gProtein 115gFat 44g So that's it! I will post occasionally, and my personal blog with things that are not related to workouts and workouts also, will be in my signature if that interests you. But this log will be for fitness only.

I wish I had a Beauty and the Beast gif right now. "Flabby, fat, and lazy" pretty much describes me to a T. This is my 5th challenge and I'm still trying to figure out how to make my healthy habits stick. Womp womp. This time I'm going with easy things that won't shake up my life too drastically but will still help me see results. So! Fun stuff: Main Quest: Lose 10 pounds Goal 1: Eat 1504 calories per day (+3 CON) Based on IIFYM.Will be tracked on MyFitnessPal. Come say hi and call me out on bad life choices!Depending on how hard/often I exercise, I may up this to net calories to compensate.I've been trying to avoid calorie counting because it sucks, but I've realized it's what I've had the most luck with before. Booo! Goal 2: Do a goddamn pushup. (+5 STR) Seriously. What is upper body strength and where do I buy it?Attempt every other day. Ideally as part of a bodyweight workout, but AT LEAST try pushups.Do incline pushups at various heights at my hideously boring job. Goal 3: Get 7.5 hours of sleep a night (+3 CON, +2 STA) Go to bed no later than 930 on weeknights. Probably weekends too, because consistency.Tracked via Fitbit until I train my cat to record the exact moments I fall asleep and wake up. Say hi here too! Life goal: Repeat a positive affirmation 200 times a day (+2 WIS) I'll keep looking for some I like, but this seems like a pretty good list.basically I'm a super negative person and that sucksI also suck in the self esteem and self confidence departmentsSee? I'm being negative!not sure how I'm going to keep track bc I don't have that many fingers. Fitness side goal: run 1 mile without stopping Diet side goal: completely avoid processed food for a week

hello! I started IIFYM just over a week or so, and I have a relatively good grasp on it save for one portion. my macros are currently: 114p/46f/245c at a calorie count of 1848. pretty much every day I go over (usually by at least 10g) in my fats, and under in my carbs, but I always hit my protein. does anyone know if I can hit my protein and fat and then eat whatever's left to meet my calorie count - eg, the "not so good for you" things everyone always boasts about with IIFYM, which would probably push my fats up even more, or should I try and crank up my carbs to match once I've hit or exceeded the other two? I'm always in the right calorie count, so I'm not worried about going over that or anything. any help is appreciated!

Last challenge I focused on getting stronger. I bulked my way to 250lbs at the midpoint of the challenge. It was at that point that I thought, "what's the point in having powerful muscles if you can barely see them?" I want to be able to show off my hard work. I switched to a cut and was about 233lbs at last Sunday's weigh-in. My mission is to accomplish the 20lb Challenge PvP that I started at a bare minimum. The closer I can get to 200lbs (219 being the 20lb mark), the better. I want to maintain the strength gains from the previous challenge, so to that end, I deloaded and will work back up to them. If I can make gains after that, great, but if not, I'm not going to sweat it. I have plenty of time to worry about becoming beastly again once I've cut the fat. Profile Sex: Male Age: 26 Height: 5'10 Weight: 232.8lbs Goal 1: StrongLifts 5x5 - Focus on Form I deloaded 10% and will continue the program from there. I will take this time to focus on form, particularly on my incredibly awkward deadlift. I will not add weight unless my form is sound. I will get some recordings of my lifts ASAP, whether I have to drag my wife to the gym or ask a random. I have also added EZ Bar Curls to the "A" days, because SL5x5 hasn't been adding enough firepower to my gun rack. Potential Stat Gain: +5 STR Goal 2: HIIT the Ground Running I found a HIIT Program on Bodybuilding.com that I like and can fit into this week and the challenge. This will supplement my dieting, but more importantly give me some much needed stamina. My cardio machine of choice will be the elliptical trainer, as I already have one at home and won't have to go to the gym if I don't want to. I will do this 3x/week. Potential Stat Gain: +5 STA Goal 3: IIFYM Cutting With SL5x5 and HIIT, I will now be working out 6x/week. This results in the following calorie/macro goals for this week: Calories: 2309kcal Protein: 233g Fat: 93g Carbs: 135g Hurray for more carbs. I will adjust these values weekly, following my Sunday weigh-ins. Potential Stat Growth: +2 CON, +3 CHA Life Goal: Sleep I was originally going to do something related to work/career/finance, but I'll either save that for next time or work on it as a side goal on my battle log. For the challenge, I'm going to make sure that I get enough sleep to recover from lots of working out. I will be aiming to get a minimum of 8 hours of sleep per night. This generally means being asleep by 11:00 PM on weekdays. I'll need to stay away from my phone and start getting ready for bed at 10:00 to make this happen. I could see my wife being a problem here, as she plays on her iPad in bed past 11:00. I'll let her know what I'm doing and to respect my wishes. She can play with the sound off or go out into the living room. I will experiment with meditation and other methods of lulling myself to sleep quickly. To track this, I will create a sleep log in my challenge spreadsheet, where I will not only record the hours slept, but also what I did before bed, how I felt when I woke up, if I dreamed, if I woke up in the middle of the night etc. Potential Stat Growth: +3 WIS This didn't work out and will be attempted again during the next bulking challenge. I'm looking forward to becoming a much leaner version of myself.

Personality & Background Primary Motivator: Achievement, to overcome obstacles and succeed Emotional Disposition: Calm Moodiness: Even-Tempered Core Traits Outlook: Trusting Integrity: Pragmatic Impulsiveness: Focused Boldness: Daring Flexibility: Adaptable Affinity: Empathetic Comportment: Charming Interactivity: Listener Disclosure: Reserved Conformity: Free Thinking Secondary Traits Sense of Humor: Cynical Favorite Topics: Humor, Adventure, People Quirks, Habits, & Oddities: Daydreaming, Lip biting, Tree Climbing Hobbies & Enjoyments: Storytelling, Swimming, Music, Reading Personality Notes: Can read and write because her father taught her, comfortable with a dagger because her Uncle Edrick taught her. Can annoy her grandmother because of her tomboyish ways. Birthplace Cassi was born on a small farm on the banks of the Bellemere River, near the village of Pinewoods. Pinewoods is a small village that is economically dependent on the local sawmill. Barton and Kressara Grim own the sawmill, with the help of their four sons: Errine, Bharat, Esiao, and Derex Family Her mother, Helenia, died in childbirth, leaving the young baby in the care of her father, Adham Hawklight. Cassi was the only child produced by the union, and her father has never shown any interest in bringing another wife into the household. Cassi's grandparents, Brinley and Gavina, live a half-day's walk from the Hawklight farm. Cassi likes to make the journey at least once a fortnight to learn cooking, sewing, and other skills of running the household for her father. Her mother's brother, Edrick, was a soldier in the Great War and regales Cassi with stories of his great adventures. Edrick is the person that Cassi credits (and her father blames) for planting the dreams of adventure in her head. Duties and Obligations Cassi feels great obligation to stay with her father and take care of him, although her heart longs for great adventures. She knows her father wishes for her to marry Derex, the youngest son of the owners of the sawmill. Although Derex and Cassi are great friends, there is no great love between the two.

Ok...so I'm scared of meat. Which is a problem for my goals of going from skinny-fat to fit and toned. I've been a "flexi-tarian" for awhile. Mostly vegetarian...I'll eat meat from local sources....but living/working/having a degree in agriculture...mass produced/processed meat scares me to death. I cannot, CANNOT go in to the local grocery store and buy chicken without freaking out about the chlorine it was processed in to kill the bacteria...and the percentage of food-borne illness that comes from meat... Yeah. So meat, in general, scares me. That's issue #1. The good news is that I'm very fortunate to live near locally owned co-op's and stores that carry local meats. However most of the cheaper options are beef. And I'm a grad student...and I'm poor. And then this leads to issue #2. Red meat and heart disease/colon cancer. The reason I'm upping the protein is because running for years hasn't given me the muscle. I don't think just lifting without changing my diet will help either. It's pretty carb heavy but 90% natural, home made, vegetable related stuff. We rarely eat out and I cook a ton. No frozen dinners, no boxed stuff, just...food. But usually a lot more veggies than meat/protein. So I've been looking at/trying iifym....but not the cookies and pizza version...more like the fish, beef, veggies, etc. So clean eating iifym? Maybe it's closer to paleo but I haven't researched paleo that much...and I love cheese... I'm rambling. Sorry. So my question/issue is....do you worry about the long-term impacts of protein as far as heart health and cancer? Do you eat more white meats/fish and avoid red meat? Anyone out there doing mostly vegetarian proteins? Do you have meat at every meal?? Going from MAYBE eating meat twice a month...to every day, let alone twice a day, is just...freaking me out a lot. Is anyone out there doing a vegetarian high-protein diet? I'd love your thoughts/suggestions. Anyone on MFP that want's to share their food diary? All protein related health thoughts welcome. I get that you can be lean and fit on high protein....I just wonder long term about cancer, etc. Thanks. -Courtney

I recently decided to give IIFYM a try, and I'm liking the concept of it so far. However, I'm hilariously bad at it. I tend to have this problem where I hit my protein goals at the end of the day and still have many grams of carbs (and sometimes fats) left. This wouldn't be a problem if I was cutting, but since I've decided to try to pack on some serious muscle and skyrocket my lifting poundage, I'm not hitting my needs. In fact, since modestly bumping my goal from 1900 to 2100 calories, I've been averaging out at about 1900 calories a day, whereas I would average at about 1700 before. So I guess this means two things: I'd be able to survive a steeper cut when the time comes, but I'm also not very good at hitting my macros. The 5-year-old in me sees all these leftover carbs and fats as an invitation to eat ice cream to my heart's content, but of course, the past clean-paleo-holy-eating version of me cries in protest. Alas, past clean-paleo-holy-eating me's habits leads me to eat rather low-carb and still subconsciously cringes at the offer of a large loaf of bread or slice of cake. Thus, I often throw in the towel and go to bed with 50+ g of carbs left for the day. So I come to this forum with some questions. What are some tips for hitting my macros with these given struggles? So far I've collected the weapons of sugary cereal, nuts, dried fruit, and liquid calories. Does it make much difference if my carb intake comes from complex carbs or pure sugar? Of course, I'd stay within reasonable limits, but at the end of the day when I'm trying to get closer to my goals, it's much easier to slam down a cup of orange juice than shove a potato down my throat. Does anyone else have this same struggle as me when bulking? If so, I'd love to hear your stories and how you overcame such struggles, if applicable. How do I get over the fact that reaching my macro goals might require eating foods that past clean-paleo-holy-eating me would not dare think of swallowing? Thanks!