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Hello all! I've been away from here for a while, but need to get back on track. I figured that you folk could probably help me with that. I started my first challenges with the Monks, but life has conspired against my martial arts practice (turns out that two hours of commute after work with a six year old doesn't work well). So one day I will return to Kajukenbo, but it's not in the cards right now. On the bright side, for Christmas I got a shiny new kettle bell, pull up bar, and gymnastic rings. Here's looking forward to some positive life changes in the new year. Big picture target: lose 60 pounds Right now I'm tipping the scales at 245. Not the heaviest I've ever been, but getting close. My goal weight is 185. Here is how I'm planning on doing this... Simple and sinister: let's use that shiny new kettlebell three times a week And since you can't outrun your fork: Intermittent Fasting 5 days a week. In October I had experimented with skipping breakfast and eating between 1pm and ~11pm (so it's not quite 16:8) and found myself doing well with it. I'm going to reimplement this during the weekdays and not worry about the weekends (we usually eat late morning on the weekends anyways). Miscellaneous Life Goals: Get better at brushing and flossing. Brush twice a day, floss once a day. I've been avoiding going to the dentist because I know I will get scolded for not brushing and flossing as well as I should. Declutter the house: We have too much crap around the house. So let's work on reducing this by finally selling my hockey gear. I haven't played in over 10 years, so it is time. If anyone needs a set of goalie pads on the cheap... Thanks for having me here. I'm looking forward to a fresh start in a New Year. TLDR: GOAL: Lose 60 pounds STEPS: *Simple and Sinister 3x per week *IF 5 days a week *Brush 2x and Floss 1x per day *Sell Hockey Pads

Well, my isnpiration for this challenge is the hunger games... Allthough the books where awfull, and the movies were kinda meh... I don't know, let's see where this goes. This month's challenge is all about getting hungry (Hunger Games... you know... )Well, not really starving-to-death-hungru, but kinda hungry... I decided I really need to know if I'm hungry, thirsty or just want to put my teeth in something tasty. That's why I will start intermittent fasting. So I will set a time I can start eating each week. If I feel good enough to keep fasting I can fast longer. Goal 1: Intermittent Fasting/Diet Week 1: Breakfast around 12:00 PM Week 2: Breakfast around 1:00 PM Week 3: Breakfast around 2:00 PM Week 4: Breakfast around 3:00 PM Coupled with this I want to try a low carb diet for this month. And then I just mean skipping as much as possible bad carbs: pasta, bread, white rice, candie, cookies, fruit juices, pudding, cakes,... (the list goes on)... you get the idea... Cheat day to give me some hope is on saturday. Goal 2: wake up every day around 5:00 AM Well, I have to get up every morning to keep up with my enemies! And, it makes me active, some alone time in the morning, I get to make a planning for the day. etc... It will probably be the hardest the first week. Goal 3: drinking 3l water/day Just staying hydrated, something I find very difficult! Goal 4: do something active every day So yes, this wouldn't be about fitness if I wouldn't do something about that, so I made a list with activities I can swap between. It's a ll about getting my body fit, mobile, more functional... Not necessary about getting more muscle. If I do a certain activity I will go more in depth describing what I did more in detail. For me it will be better that wayto see if I make any progress. Activity 1 Hill sprints Activity 2 Walking 1 hour Activity 3 Yoga Activity 4 Strength training Activity 5 Swimming The ideal routine would be like this: (but that is crazy, maybe I can get there in a few months) - Yoga and walking every day - Strength training 2-3 times a week - Hill sprints 2-3 times a week - Swimming 1-2 times a week

I thought Stranger Things was more Halloween than Christmas? Forget that! Just look at all this Christmas cheer! I'm slowing things down a bit this challenge, cause last challenge was pretty rough, and I'm going to be away for half the challenge and so not have my "regular routines" (that's funny because I don't really have any anyways) and equipment. So the goal is being flexible and not gaining a ton of weight over the holiday season. Hopper - Intermittent Fasting "I'm just going to be out here by myself eating all this candy. I'm going to get fat. It's very unhealthy to leave me out here. I could have a heart attack or something" In order to avoid the above quote from season 2, I will not eat after 8pm nor before 12pm. I started trying this last challenge - it's not too bad when I'm busy, but they days I'll have off are going to be tough. Eleven - Eat food, not too much, mostly plants Elle has a problem with eating too many processed foods. So do I. And too much of it. But I've been having a hard time recently with a strict tracking system. So for this challenge the mantra is Eat food (not processed junk), Not too much, Mostly plants (focus on fruits and veggies). Mike, Will, Dustin and Lucas - Gather my Party and Exercise I need some more IRL support if I'm going to succeed at this long-term. I'd like to do an obstacle course race next year, and I think it'll help to try to get a team together. So that'll be a goal for this challenge. My exercise will also focus on things like the mini challenge activities - doing fun physical activity when I have the chance - rather than a focused program due to my changing environments. Merry Christmas! See how festive that is?

I am trying to lose some of my spare tire so I am trying ketosis, intermittent fasting and bulletproof coffee. I guess there are different "definitions" of fasting but in the context of dieting, I am wondering if I'm really fasting if I'm getting calories from bulletproof coffee. My original attempt at intermittent fasting was to go water-only fasting (and black coffee, not even sweetener) until dinner time. Today I struggled, my arms were shaking and I was feeling lightheaded, even after bulletproof coffee about 2 hrs earlier so I "broke down" and had some cheese and an avocado for lunch. I've been good until today but I was concerned that the lightheadedness and shakiness was related to hunger or low-blood-sugar (feeling only a little bit better now although it has only been about 30 minutes since lunch).

I need to define my goals: short-term, long-term, personal, professional, all of it. I'm drifting between things I think I should be doing and things I feel I have to do, and I'm not happy. My needs aren't being met because I don't know what they are right now. I have things I want to do but am scared to make big changes because it could mean losing my stability. THE PLAN, in order of priority: Start meditating Figure out my needs, work on my goals Work out at LEAST 2x/week I'm not going to track food/fasting or yoga. Those are fine right now. (Yay!) Disclaimer: I'm a leftist socialist queer and genderqueer (they/them pronouns) sex positive hippie who is an active member of The Resistance. Any photos I post here will be safe, but if you follow the links I cannot guarantee your continued employment if you're looking at work. :-p

Last challenge I was focused on Charles Duhigg's "The Power of Habit," identifying critical "inflection points," circumstances where I was likely to face a significant moment of weakness, and crafting small habits using the cue-routine-reward formula to get myself through those circumstances. I found some ways in which this was really helpful. Below I'll post a standard run-down of my goals for this challenge, and after that I'll analyze moments where I'm most likely to fail at these goals and craft myself habits for how to get though those moments successfully.

I am ready to kick some ass! I'm not doing the whole summer break thing For those who don't know me: I've got the fitness thing down, and I'm going to keep on dancing. Starting next week I'll dance 4 hours a week (two hours zumba and 2 hours dancehall) with an other instructor. I'm really looking forward to this! My life goals are settled too. I've got a few different small jobs now, and looking for more while still trying to do a great job at the ones I have. It's settled in my routine right now, so no need to make this a challenge. So what am I going to do this round? This challenge I will focus on weight loss. I will combine IF (intermittent fasting) with kcal counting. Now I know I've said I hate kcal counting in the past. But I don't seem to get out of it if I want to lose weight. And in combination with IF it's not that bad. I only have to plan two meals and one snack a day. I'm going to eat 1200 kcal a day, 1500 on the days I have zumba practice. I know I can't outrun my fork, but I do need a little extra after such an intense workout. My eating window will be between 12:00 and 18:00 (lunch, snack and dinner). This way I'll still be able to eat big meals and feel satisfied and still lose weight And to be more accountable I've registered with DietBet. I've paid 35 dollars and if I lose 4% or more of my weight within 4 weeks I get my money back and probably a bonus. If I don't, I lose the money. I've always been motivated by money, so I'm sure this will help me lots.

This glorious geeky bastard, y'all. Life goals. I know exactly why I walk and talk like a machine. Goal: Sleep. Measurement: Hours. Frequency: Daily. (Night before.) 4-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_ I'm doing badly on this one lately, and need to recover some ground. I've replaced my missing fitness tracker so I can quantify sleep better and report it to my ADHD coach. Also, feel free to harass me if you see this number averaging under 6.5-7 hours. Seriously. Want it fast, want it hard. Goal: Aikido. Measurement: Full points for attendance or reasonable substitution. Half points for any substitution. Frequency: 3x/week, or as possible. 0-x-_-x-x-_-x//_-x-_-x-x-_-x//_-x-_-x-x-_-x//_-x-_-x-x-_-x//_-x-_-x-x-_-x I'm doing reasonably well on this one, though I've been skipping classes for work reasons lately, which isn't great. (If I get the ADHD handled better, this will happen less.) The x's are there for adding in extra visits to the gym, which I'm going to try to step up when I get back from my vacation. Less for fitness, more for my brain. Goal: Intermittent fasting (fast, get it?). Measurement: Full points for LCHF+IF. Half points for one or the other. Frequency: Daily. 5-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_ I'm pretty reliably LCHF 90% of the time or more, but IF has slipped. I'd ideally like to do both. I find both at once challenge, so that's this challenge. One track mind, one track heart. Goal: Focus meditation. Measurement: Yes/no. Frequency: Daily. 0-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_ Recovering lost ground again; I considered a more challenging measurement, but I realized I've meditated maybe twice in the past month, which is no bueno. Anything goes. Goal: Focus, and do some ADHD shit. Measurement: WTF, I dunno. Frequency: Daily. 10-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_ Yeah, I don't know how to measure this one. On the one hand, it's things like "did I successfully use a strategy or do something biggish like see my coach", and on the other, it's, like, did I do a little educational thing that may or may not move the needle. (And, to be honest, my coach and I are running out of ideas, a little. I still get more done working with her around, but the coaching isn't going on so much.) I'm not sure. I'll take suggestions. I feel like I'm the worst, so I always act like I'm the best. Goal: Metta meditation before bed. Measurement: Yes/no. Frequency: Daily. 0-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_ This is a two-birds-one-stone kind of thing. I'm hoping it helps with some of the sleep problems by centering me a little at bedtime, and I'm hoping to spend a bit less time feeling like I'm the worst. Bonus: Practicing a certain Doctorish arrogance. Measurement: Sliding scale. Frequency: As arises. 0-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_ I don't know what this looks like, but I think it's worth doing. Maybe I'll just practice saying some really arrogant shit about myself. I know exactly what I want and who I want to be. Goal: Timepunk lifestyle reboot. Measurement: Sliding scale. Frequency: As arises/daily. 2-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_ Bonus: One-off timepunk lifestyle reboot shit. Measurement: Sliding scale. Frequency: As arises. 5-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_ I don't really know what to do here. (Yes, the goal quote is a lie.) I'm sort of going, "I'll know it when I see it," except then I sometimes don't see the opportunities. Any suggestions on this one? I think I might need a blazer of some kind. (Summer is not good time for layering, WTF.) Fortunately, it's sunglasses season and I have light-sensitive eyes, so I'm getting back in the sunglasses habit. Wouldn't kill me to break out the punk albums again. But that's all low-hanging fruit. If I'm really clever, maybe there's something here about using the ADHD traits in an actually useful way, cuz that dude's the ADHD poster child. Bad grades, distractable as a cat, poor impulse control, doesn't handle authority well, into adrenaline sports... but he makes it work somehow. (I'm counting the activity tracker acquisition, because any device that analyzes my activity and vibrates to extend my senses while looking like jewelry is surely a futuristic cyberpunk marvel.) TV taught me how to feel, now real life has no appeal. Goal: Writing. Measurement: Full points for 10 minutes or 10 words. Frequency: Daily. 0-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_ Time to make with the fictional worlds again. Starting small to get the habit going again. If you are not very careful, your possessions will possess you. Goal: General possession-ranching, particularly organizing and repairing. Measurement: Sliding scale. Frequency: Bi-weekly. _-_//_-_//_-_//_-_//_-_ I wasn't going to, but the song's pretty clear on it, and it's not a bad goal, so just a few stuff-husbandry goals. Not acquiring. Acquiring is not the point. In theory, I do this, but in practice, I wouldn't notice if it slipped, so this is the weekly reminder. Don't do love, don't do friends. I'm only after success. Bonus: Points for social activity. Measurement: Sliding scale. Frequency: As arises. 3-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_ I have a habit of getting way too stuck into work, and then hibernating when I have time off. Right now, I'm just tracking and awarding bonus points, but at some point, it'll be more goalish. I will count aikido, because it's social and seeing people outside of work - any outside club activity counts. This looks like a long one, but it's mostly data-gathering, or nudging existing habits back into place. TL;DR on the audience participation: Hassle me if I don't average 7 hours of sleep a night. My ADHD goals need measurability. My timepunk lifestyle reboot needs both goals and measurability. I could also use a little help being arrogant, frankly.

Indeed I am back in my favorite place in the forums with my true companions! Already its' time for another challenge to keep this kick-ass train going! It's time to go beyond the Earth and into the next frontier! There are new species to explore, most already ahead of the game. We need to establish ourselves worthy to be along side of them, as well as a fight off a race of genocidal bio-organic machine insanity! Time to exploit the mass effect to travel faster than light! But who am I? I am an uber awesome, N7 trained, Pathfinder capable BlackTezca! I have many talents, usually known as the GIF Commander who was introduced to the citadel council in From Lurker to (Newb) Rebel! and completing smaller but importnant side missions in BlackTezca's Daily Battle Towards A Much Better Year. My latest accomplishment came in successful completing a major mission known as BlackTezca's 17th Trail: An Artsy Geeky Amazon Creates Movie Magic! I am now here for the next mission, cause saving the galaxy is a job I have to do, and I also plan on having fun while doing it! Granted even this mission, as big as it is, is only a part of the grand picture. I need to complete this in order to move forward on my main quest! This quest will help build me up beyond Spectre, beyond Commander! With this I can lead our people to find and colonize new galaxies, to fight out invaders and those who seek to destroy or control us! This ultimate quest will return me to the warrior I know I am inside and with that we can be saved and become stronger than ever! For my MAIN quest, as it has always been, is...!! My Main Quest to be as POWERFUL and BATTLE READY as Wonder Woman We have no time to lose! We have the recruit the best of the best and need to consider more than just humanity here! We are newbies in the great space race; other species have long since ruled the vast reaches of the beyond and we need to consider them for the mission! Let's move onto our introductions! Turian are disciplined warriors; willing to use the force necessary to keep the peace. Details: Time to get disciplined...with my meals! This is gonna be rough cause I'm gonna need to keep up intermittent fasting AND going a bit more primal, which means less carbs and more protein and the easiest way for me to keep track is by making sure I do go primal(ish). So, no bread, no rice, no corn. The Rice is the killer. THE RICE IS A KILLER and the bread is no joke. Also no sweets. So that means I need to eat all that Easter chocolate this weekend! No beer, but wine, particular red wine, and vodka are good. Wish me luck cause I'm sure something will go wrong...need the discipline! Contingencies: Any visit to my inlaws is prime time for disaster...SO will be doing cheat days here.Tracking: I'll be using MyFitnessPal ( username BlackTezca ) with extra accountability done here.Grading: A for Intermittent Fasting, 9 pm to 12 pm, 5 to 7 days days a week, eating primal(ish) - 25 exp ( 3 Con, 1 Cha ) B for Intermittent Fasting, 9 pm to 12 pm, 3 to 4 times a week,eating primal(ish) - 20 exp ( 3 Con ) C for Intermittent Fasting, 9 pm to 12 pm, 2 times a week, eating primal(ish) - 15 exp ( 2 Con ) F for all else Krogan are resilient, powerful fighters; they can survive anything, including near extinction. Details: Righto! Let's get buff and beefy like that Krogan and keep up my workouts! I have taken a break zero week. Unintended but it happened due to lethargy, laziness, too much stress and just wanting to chill...etc. Which is bad. So I'm gonna get back int the swing of things even more so with this challenge, except gonna try and up this a notch! If I aim for 5 days a week just focusing on doing short workouts too it still would be good right!? Right! Contingencies: Sickness and travel pretty much. However considering the flexibility here, I should be able to do something! Walking, yoga, etc!Tracking: I'll be tracking the workouts using MyFitnessPal ( username BlackTezca ) and this lovely thread will be updated as well.Grading: A for ANY workout (Kickboxing and Muay Thai included) 5 to 6 times a week - 25 pts ( 2 Sta 1 Dex 2 Str )B for ANY workout (Kickboxing and Muay Thai included) out 3 to 4 times a week - 20 pts ( 1 Sta 2 Str ) C for ANY workout (Kickboxing and Muay Thai included) out 1 to 2 times a week - 15 pts ( 2 Str ) F for all else Asari are elegant, diplomatic, and no one matches their biotic aptitude. Details: The Asari are all beautiful and elegant, with amazing Biotic prowess. Naturally perfect for my art quest. Granted a little smaller now since I split up my art quest this time, but hey wanted to give something a try! So expect to see some beautiful work here! Included sketches since I am trying out a brand new art program (Medibang!) which has some awesome brushes that look really similar to pencils! Nice! Makes me wanna sketch out a few things and stick with that, especially when I start doing commissions! So much fun here . Contingencies: The usual! Friends being in town, going on possible trips else where, etc. Can't bring my computer everywhere!Tracking: I have an art Tumblr and I also have DeviantArt (WATCH ME FOR ACCOUNTABILITY). I shall use those and this thread to keep track. Grading: A for Arting and Sketching at least 30 minutes 3 to 4 days a week - 15 exp ( 2 Cha ) B for Arting and Sketching at least 30 minutes 1 to 2 days a week - 10 exp ( 1 Cha ) F Salarian are energetic inventors with sharp wit and efficient intelligence. Details: Salarians have excellent memory, are logical, intelligent and particular good at figuring out all the details. They would have so many models for Warhammer 40k assembled and painted meticulously that not only would their strategies WRECK an opponent, their armies would look good doing so! ...Essentially I need to fucking paint. Contingencies: The usual! Friends being in town, going on possible trips else where, etc. Need to focus on these models!Tracking: I have an art Tumblr and I also have DeviantArt (WATCH ME FOR ACCOUNTABILITY). I shall use those and this thread to keep track.Grading: A for model building and painting for at least 30 minutes 4 days a week - 20 exp ( 2 Wis 1 Cha ) B for model building and painting for at at least 30 minutes 2 to 3 days a week - 10 exp ( 2 Wis ) C for model building and painting for at at least 30 minutes 1 day a week - 5 pts ( 1 Wis ) F for all else Angaran have strong family ties and bioelectric capabilities for deep communication. Details: Angaran one of the new races discovered in Andromeda and they are lovable species that are very much family oriented. Their communities are filled with many children and each one shares different parenting figures. It truly takes village...to clean after so many kids. I myself have two dogs, a cat and a house and with my husband to help, it's still quite a bit! It's already mid spring so time to do some chores! Contingencies: I can't clean my house if I'm out of town... Tracking: Tracking on this lovely thread of course! Grading: A for working on a household chore (yard, garage, pets included) 5 days a week - 15 exp ( 2 Wis ) B for working on a household chore (yard, garage, pets included) 3 to 4 days a week - 10 exp ( 1 Wis ) F for all else I myself have already recruited solid companions from these excellent allied races assembled to save the world and explore new galaxies for The Federation! Each one is prepared and trained for the mission and the best at what they can do! Now let's see what I am starting out with stat-wise! Starting Measurements: Date: 04/24/2017 @ 7:00 am Weight: 151.4 lb ***Body Fat***: 26% Waist: 25 in Waist @ Navel: 26 in Hips: 39 in Neck: 12 in Chest: 32 in Left Bicep: 11 in Right Thigh: 18 in Wrist: 6 in Forearm: 9 in Let's do this! Let's save the galaxy! One epic challenge at a time! Go out there and give them hell. We were born to do this!

So I originally had ideas of making this a "Jocko" themed challenge thread, centered around Jocko Willink and some of the lessons he preaches on his podcast as well as his book Extreme Ownership. But the more I thought about it, the more I felt it was inappropriate. I don't want to give out this impression I've got my stuff together. I'm messed up at the moment. My low back hurts. I'm not working out with any regularity. I'm using alcohol in ways that I don't feel comfortable with. So, here I am. It's time to be honest. It's time to face the facts. Fact #1: I'm broken & unhealthy right now. I keep looking at myself as a strong healthy young man. Sure I'm strong, but when your lower back starts screaming in agony any time you go anywhere near 75% of your strength, you aren't strong. You are broken. At the beginning of the year I wrote about how I was going to fix myself this year. And here I sit nearly 4 full months into the year and I'm no better than I was on January 1st. It's time to go back to the Challenges in hopes of getting a short term goal to spark some long term discipline. I'm not going to focus on elaborate long workouts, but rather the short simple stuff that I should be doing before bed. I want to spend time doing McGill's Big 3 once per day, as well as getting in some sort of random mobility work for at least 5 minutes per day. McGill Week 1 ☐☐☐☐☐☐☐ || Mobility Week 1 ☐☐☐☐☐☐☐ McGill Week 2 ☐☐☐☐☐☐☐ || Mobility Week 2 ☐☐☐☐☐☐☐ McGill Week 3 ☐☐☐☐☐☐☐ || Mobility Week 3 ☐☐☐☐☐☐☐ McGill Week 4 ☐☐☐☐☐☐☐ || Mobility Week 4 ☐☐☐☐☐☐☐ Fact #2: I'm signed up for the Hammer Race in October. Running is easier if you lose weight. I'm going to do my IF windows as it seems to be a simple way for me to stay focused on what I'm taking in. Overall goal is to lose 3lbs over the challenge, but as long as I'm sticking to the IF window, I'll call this a win for now. If I have to start cutting calories outside of that next challenge so be it. Giving myself Saturday to break the window. IF Week 1 ☐☐☐☐☐☐ IF Week 2 ☐☐☐☐☐☐ IF Week 3 ☐☐☐☐☐☐ IF Week 4 ☐☐☐☐☐☐ Fact #3: I still suck at pull-ups. I really started to get good at them awhile back when I was crushing some GTG work. I'm going to get back to that. Plan is to do 3 Jumping Pull-ups, 20 Push-ups, and 5 CoC Closes with each hand per session and do those sessions at least 3 times per day. GTG Week 1 ☐☐☐☐☐☐☐ GTG Week 2 ☐☐☐☐☐☐☐ GTG Week 3 ☐☐☐☐☐☐☐ GTG Week 4 ☐☐☐☐☐☐☐ Fact #4: My daughter's vision sucks. I won't go into details. Some of you know the backstory, some of you don't. Her vision is not good and she's going to be learning braille eventually. I need to learn braille to be able to help her. I want to spend at least 15 minutes 3x per week to learn the letters of the braille alphabet. Braille Week 1 ☐☐☐ Braille Week 2 ☐☐☐ Braille Week 3 ☐☐☐ Braille Week 4 ☐☐☐ Totally hi-jacking this format from @wovercast. Also, I still plan on trying to get in my Gymnastics Bodies workouts, but as I've had zero luck being disciplined with them for now, I'm starting with stuff I hope I can do.

I am starting on IF and have seen everywhere people are skipping breakfast and working out in the afternoon. I cannot do that and want to workout in the morning (6am because of work), is it still beneficial if I quit eating at 3 and eat right after my workout so 730-8am? Thank you!!!

WOOHOOO!!!! MOTHER CLUCKERS!!!! It is time for another awesome challenge my fellow Monk Fiends! After the success of the last challenge, I have decided that now it's time to sculpt my body the old fashioned way! No none of this CGI nonsense, just full on practical effects for this endeavor just like they used to do it. Just need to use this space to prepare the materials I need to make a classic make up! But who am I? Some of you may be knew contestants, aiming to join me in this competition that takes creativity, skill, and good ole Sci Fi know how! I am BlackTezca, GIF queen extraordinaire who started out carving out simple prosthetic in From Lurker to (Newb) Rebel! and slowly been detailing more make up and improvements in my trade in BlackTezca's Daily Battle Towards A Much Better Year before creating a full on fabricated mechanized fighting masterpiece in the latest award winning cult classic BlackTezca's 16th Trial: An Artsy Geeky Amazon Defends the Universe!. After such stunning masterpiece, it was only fit that I enter into this next challenge to text out my practical effect skill!! However, I have to make sure I use the proper materials and have the process down in order to complete this challenge! I can't go in blindly; careful concept design, skills in sculpting out clay, creating the mold to fill with silicone, foam, and other, perhaps more fluid products are needed! Not only that, but all this must be applied first before finally the details are fully fleshed out in last looks. That final look hopefully leading to the finale of a long line of creature features. The most awesome of all awesome genre films is my main goal...and that main finale Swan Song film is... My Main Quest to be as POWERFUL and BATTLE READY as Wonder Woman It truly be a most epic movie! Just needs the right monstrous creature and angelically design hero to complete it! Let's see how to do exactly that with the following materials and steps! Concept Design: Get inspired from Nerdfitness rebels and especially from the recruits! Details: I did really good last time so I want to do this again; this time aiming for the newbies to the challenges! it's always good to have encouragement from fellow Rebels and I know that first challenges can be particularly difficult; thus the goal would be to not only leave comments on my solid companions, but also on those just starting out! Any guild goes! Contingencies: If I lack internet, that would be the only contingency. However, as long as I have a nifty device, I should be able to make it!Tracking: Tracking to be done here! On the forums where I need to comment!Grading: A for commenting at least once on a fellow Rebel's challenge 4 to 5 days a week! - 15 exp ( 2 Cha ) B for commenting at least once on a fellow Rebel's challenge 2 to 3 days a week! - 10 exp ( 1 Cha ) F for all else Sculpting: Lets get rid of excess clay to a sculpt a masterpiece! Details: I started this during my last challenge but did not call it out and perhaps I should have cause it made the eating quest there a little harder: I am trying out Intermittent Fasting, grabbing a few guidelines from Lean Gains. This is gonna a bit tough and I'm not gonna start all out seven days a week...just five days a week. I'm also not gonna go out with NOTHING every morning...just coffee with cream and stevia. The cream will have calories, but one could give me a break for 50 cals right? Right? Contingencies: Whenever I am at the In-Laws and they make breakfast. Should not be often but just in case I need some flexibility here. Tracking: I'll be tracking the stretching sessions using MyFitnessPal ( username BlackTezca ) with extra accountability done here. Grading: A for Intermittent Fasting, 9 pm to 12 pm, 5 to 7 days days a week - 20 exp ( 1 Sta 2 Con ) B for Intermittent Fasting, 9 pm to 12 pm, 3 to 4 times a week - 15 exp ( 2 Con ) C for Intermittent Fasting, 9 pm to 12 pm, 2 times a week - 10 exp ( 1 Con ) F for all else Molding: Need to fill this body with silicone (or water) to create a great appliance! Details: So since I am doing intermittent fasting I will definitely need to consider filling me up with something! And that something will be water! I have been slack with my water drinking these past few months and while working out actively again has caused me to drink more water; I need to make sure I get my full amount! Time to drink up! Contingencies: Well if I am in a desert, trapped with no clean water; I'm just gonna need to get creative! Tracking: I'll be tracking the stretching sessions using MyFitnessPal ( username BlackTezca ) with extra accountability done here. Grading: A for 8 glasses of water, 5 to 7 days days a week - 20 exp ( 1 Sta 2 Con ) B for 8 glasses of water 3 to 4 times a week - 15 exp ( 2 Con ) C for 8 glasses of water 2 times a week - 10 exp ( 1 Con ) F for all else Application: Time to put the above together some adhesive to make sure the mold and sculpt is strong! Details: Time to bring back some strength training for my 'application' quest! This will build my design/body up to be strong. This will be for all strength training workouts, including resistance training too (so snow shoveling, moving boxes, and kickboxing with heavy bags). Let's get buff! Contingencies: Sickness and travel will be the contigencies! Tracking: I'll be tracking the workouts using MyFitnessPal ( username BlackTezca ) and this lovely thread will be updated as well. Grading: A for Strength workout (Kickboxing included) 3 to 4 times a week - 25 pts ( 2 Dex 2 Str ) B for Strength workout (Kickboxing included) out 1 to 2 times a week - 20 pts ( 1 Dex 1 Str ) F for all else Last Looks: Time to spice up the sculpt with the final touches, including addition fabrications and some paint! Details: Let's make some art! Digital Painting, Model Painting, any kind of sketching, any kind of art is needed here! Time to spice up the final piece with some color and some more detail! Contingencies: The usual! Friends being in town, going on possible trips else where, etc. Tracking: I have an art Tumblr and I also have DeviantArt (WATCH ME FOR ACCOUNTABILITY). I shall use those and this thread to keep track. Grading: A for Arting at least 30 minutes 4 to 5 days a week - 20 exp ( 2 Wis 1 Cha )B for Arting at least 30 minutes 2 to 3 days a week - 15 exp ( 1 Wis 1 Cha) F for all else Looks like we have solid plan for this next creature feature! These quests should make an awesome monster...as long as no surprises come in our way! Let's see what we're working with! Starting Measurements: Date: 03/20/2017 @ 7:00 am Weight: 156 ***Body Fat***: 26% Waist: 25.5 Waist @ Navel: 26.5 Hips: 39 Neck: 12 Chest: 33 Left Bicep: 11.5 Right Thigh: 18 Wrist: 5.5 Forearm: 9 We're ready to go! Let's start making some movie magic everyone! Welcome to Face/Off!!

November 2016 Challenge Hello Druids, for those of you who don't know. I'm Waldgeist, a 29 year old German guy. I've been mostly rolling with the Assassins but I feel that for my current situation this is the better place for me. Whats going on right now (the prologue, if you will): I moved to another state/city and enrolled in a university course to pursue a 3-year degree in 'Physical Activity & Health', because I was not happy with were my work life was headed. I had realized that I can't sustainably work an 9 to 5 office job, but I love working with people and teaching them/helping them to get better. Therefore, I decided to not just complain but make an actual change. The journey so far wasn't easy, there were times I thought I wouldn't make it, but I did and my new life officially started last week. Also I am living completely alone again for the first time in three years, which I don't mind but that gives me more options to live healthier. There is a lot to do, like get a part-time job, make new friends, finish moving (most of my stuff is still in my hometown), explore the city/college, not to mention the obvious, study, work out, eat healthy and don't let life get to stressful at the same time. Theme: This will be the Jedi Academy books including I Jedi (though they are no longer canon, they still have a special place in my heart). Main goal: Establish routines in a new environment Quest 1 "Study the the Force by its elements" GMB Elements I've done this programme before and it is a perfect base to establish an active practice routine. Goal is to do at least 3 sessions per week, bonus points if i do the recovering days in between sessions, too. Quest 2 "A Jedi must control his body as well as his mind" Flexibility This kind of overlaps with the first quest, since there is flexibility work in there, too. But I don't want to limit myself to those stretches. Goal is to do at least 4 sessions per week. Quest 3 "Working out with Keiran Halcyon" KB/bodyweight Workout Don't have my equipment right now, so this might be limited to push-ups and squats only for a while. Anyway, twice a week is the Goal here. Quest 4 "To be One with the Force" Relax As I mentioned above there is a lot going on right now, which means I need to remind myself to relax, be thankful, not to worry too much etc. Daily would be perfect, but I know myself so every second day shall be the Goal. Quest 5 "Jedi do not desire a luxurious life" Do IF & Eat clean My budget isn't that large anyway at the moment, so this shouldn't be too hard. After all, healthy cooking is way cheaper than eating unhealty pre-made stuff and not eating for a day (aka IF) is even cheaper, even if you eat a slightly bigger meal at the end of the fast. Goal is daily healthy eating with one or two IF days a week, but a small treat a week or two won't be counted as unhealty.

Superdad IV - The Quest for Sleep All summer long, I've been preparing myself to become Superdad before my 3rd kid arrives. We getting very close to the goal line now. His due date is August 30th, but there's no telling when he'll make his appearance. I'm not even sure if I'll be able to finish out this challenge, but I'm going to give it a go. Goal 1 - A Superdad is well-rested: Consistent bedtime leads to consistent sleep Yes, I realize consistent sleep is a ridiculous thing to hope for with a newborn, but I'd still like to work on forming the habit of getting to be at a reasonable time and maybe banking a little extra sleep before Superboy arrives. So, here's my plan for 5 days a week: Head for bed by 10 PM - 2 points Lights off by 10:30 PM - 2 points Lights off by 10:15 - 1 bonus point Possibility for 5 points a day, 5 days a week, 4 weeks in the challenge equals 100 possible points. Alternatively, if I average 7 hours of sleep a night at the end of 4 weeks, I earn full credit for this goal. Goal 2 - A Superdad looks good in his super-suit Carry over goal from last challenge and part of a longer term goal. I'd like to lose 3 inches from my midsection by December 25th, my 40th birthday. For this challenge, I'm going to be following the Phase 1 diet plan from Engineering the Alpha, which involves intermittent fasting. I'll be tracking my fasted hours, my calories, and my macros. Hit 16/8 fasting/feeding window - 2 points Hit my calorie goals - 2 points Hit my macro goals - 1 point Possibility for 5 points a day, 5 days a week, over 4 weeks equals 100 points. I will award bonus points for extra days hitting my goals during the week. I will also award myself full credit if I lose an inch from my belly by the end of the challenge. Goal 3 - A Superdad breaks through his limitations This one will be about improving my mobility. Namely, I'd like to improve my ankle flexibility in order to be able to do pistol squats. I also need to work on my shoulders and my overall posture. I just got a copy of Becoming a Supple Leopard from the library, so I'm going to read through it and see if I can get some ideas on daily mobility exercises. Scoring forthcoming. Full credit awarded for 1 full unassisted pistol squat on each leg. Goal 4 - A Superdad exercises his brain as well as his muscles I've got at least 5 books I'd like to read, so I'll award 20 points per book. This will also hopefully motivate me to get to bed early to read. There you have it. Up, up, and away!

OK, so I feel a little settled in here now, and I think I'm ready to make myself accountable for my future. I'll keep a log here, as best I can, of my effort, progress, and failures. My goal is to get myself below 80kg by the end of 2016 - I was at 95kg when I figured something needed to be done, and have been on a gradual decline for about 18 months. I weighed in at 85.2kg (fasted) this morning, so I may have to revise that down to the mid 70's as I go and try to earn some bonus XP. Apparently 70kg will put me at the lower end of a healthy BMI for my height, so we'll see how we go... After reading Steve's post on intermittent fasting I've finally taken the plunge, and have been on a 16/8 fast/feed routine for 3 days now. Neither of my arms have been chewed off, so I think it's going well, but I'm still trying to adjust what I'm eating (probably my biggest challenge) so ensure that I don't start running out of energy. Today I got up at 5:30am, went for a 10km (6 miles, I think that is) run, and stayed fasted until midday. Lunch was a salad of mixed leaves, a couple of baby carrots, 2 baby cucumbers, vintage cheese crumbled on top, and a handful of walnuts. It's been my regular lunch for a few weeks now (previously it was reheated leftovers, or takeaway), and it seems to be working for me, although I'd like to add some protein in there after reading the NF nutrition guide. Dinner was some sort of pork stir fry with peanuts that we ate in lettuce leaves, which I ate until I felt satiated. Then it was off to karate for an hour and a half, and I'm basically done for the day (pretty much bed time as I type this. Tomorrow morning I plan to add the beginner's bodyweight workout to my routine, as most of what I do is endurance and stamina related, so I think alternating my morning run with some strength training might be what's needed to level up. Let's see what happens...

Hello all. Been a while since I've been here. lots has changed it seems. 4weeks vs 6weeks challenges a new experience gaining system (need to read up on that) new Rebel class. All seems to come in handy for me. Not much remains of my Monk-aspirations nor my Druid-past : so i'll join the Rebels for now. My stat points gained in the past do not reflect my current state : so I have decimated them,. and demoted myself back to lvl2. My challenge : Rebirth Diet : Intermittent fasting (lean gains ; 8hours feeding window) I'd be happy if I make 2days / week ; I'd be amazed and extatic if I make 4days/week Fitness : 10.000 steps / day I guess my baseline in first week will be +- 5000steps Since it's practicly my only excercise I do atm ; i really want to commit to get it to 10k asap. Life : Mindfulness : +- 20 min of bodyscan after getting home from work.

So, I know the first week of the challenge is almost over and I'm finally getting this posted. But, the last 10 days have been a perfect storm of crap that derailed all of my plans. As you can tell by the title this go 'round, my goals are pretty simple and expectations are not high. Why? Well, on the Monday of zero week I received word that after fighting various forms of cancer for 21 years, my cousin finally lost her battle at 53 years of age. 2 days later, doctors told my mother that they had exhausted everything they could do to halt her cancer and that there was nothing more to do but look into hospice care. Friday was a funeral in Virginia for my cousin, followed by Sunday's Mother's Day at my parents and a makeup Mother's Day for my wife on Monday. The last few days have been a matter of getting caught up at work. May has been a rough start, and given the prognosis the doc's gave to my mom, May is not going to get less hectic. I debated skipping this challenge altogether, but then I looked back on all the gains I made the last 4 months and decided my challenge will be to simply not lose any of the ground I've gained. I just don't want to sit here at the end of the month as summer starts and find myself back at the beginning again and I'm afraid if I don't have a challenge to keep me honest, I'll give in to what is the easier path. So, here's the plan: Goal #1: IF. I was finally successful with 16-8 Intermittent Fasting last challenge and it is something that I should be able to keep doing no matter what is going on. I believe I derived a lot of benefit last challenge so I'm going to keep it up. Eating only between 11 AM and 7 PM. Goal #2: 3 resistance workouts each week at night. Last night was the first one I've gotten in this week, but it felt so good to just get in touch with my muscles again and remind myself that I am capable of more than I think I am. 3 of these might be tough given what is sure to be a random schedule, but we'll see. Goal #3: Run when I can. 1 sprint workout and 1 run a week of 5K distance or more. Running is my form of meditation. This goal is as much for my sanity as it is anything else. For the sprints, it's about purging anything in my mind that's holding me back. For the pace runs, its about being alone in my head -- I don't care about the pace, just getting out in nature and breathing it in. Goal #4: But, one thing I'm going to add is a daily examination of conscience and expression of gratitude. Despite all the crap that is going on in my extended family, I live a blessed life. All too often, I've taken it for granted. No more. I think if I can manage to follow through on this, I'll come out of May better than I was when it started. But, even if I'm the same, I'll take that. So, if I can maintain my 7 hours of sleep each night and run my race with an 8:10 - 8:20 pace and my weight stays at 210 pounds, I'll take it.

After planning comes... Action! Trigger warning: I post pictures of food and tempting stuff. @Naxius So yeah, I am going to start swimming this month and hopefully keep at it all summer. Since my knee is not showing any sign of getting better, I had to find and alternative to running and high impact sport, so obviously, like every recovering athlete in the making, I went for swimming. In addition, I have decided to start trying something new. NerdFitness might be a fitness-based website, but I don't think I am the only one that has found the community amazingly supporting in all areas for life. It is truly amazing to get to see the "behind-the-scenes" of people's progress, when normally you only get to hear the success stories. It really makes you realise that in the end, everyone is just doing their best to try and balance busy lives while staying healthy. Anyhow, I don't just want to level-up my fitness level, but level up all areas of my life - Emotional, Physical, Spiritual and Mental. Now as all Nerds know, it is not a good idea to try and do too many things at once, so every month I will focus mostly on one aspect, with one week . The last challenge was mostly a mental one - I focused mostly on self-discipline, study and overall setting the ground for what is coming now, which is the physical practice. Aside from the holistic approach, there is also a bit of non-formal learning theory applied here that I might get into a further post. So, what does this challenge concretely look like? Well - here it goes: Health - Physical 1) Get your cardio Go swimming 2x a week The number is dictated by my budget, unfortunately, as I have quite a few things to pay for this month. I am going back home for the holidays though so I will be able to go more often then. 2) Nourish your body I have started to suspect that one of the reasons my knee is not healing is that the time of injury (whatever it may be) also coincides with the time I decided to try and go on a diet because I had started spotting my abs. This period was, however, also combined with what I suspect is a real underestimation of my current physical activity, which lead to a cycle of binges as well as one week in between where I was constantly eating - but eating junk. Which in turn was followed by a week where I barely ate anything because I felt so sick... sooo... yeah... Because of this, I figured I should try eating instead. Eat between 1600 and 1800 calories Get at least 103g of protein 5x a week 3) Fight mindless snacking This has been a problem lately... it has always been, really, in my life. I had managed to curb it at the beginning of the year thanks to, um, having barely enough budget to eat, but it has come back with a vengeance lately. So, yeah, that needs to stop. No mindless snacking: if I want to snack, I need to take prepare the snack, like our moms and grandmothers did for us when we were children. So, let's say I feel like a slice of bread with nutella on it. This is what I would have to do: take out the bio-nutella equivalent and the orange juice and put it on the table together with cutlery, plates and glasses. Take out the bread, toast the bread, put it on a plate. Sit down, serve myself, then put everything back. I am pretty sure that should be too much effort 9/10. Once a week, fast till the 9th hour This is a fasting method I have found where you don't eat anything until 9 hours after you wake up, then break the fast with a light meal, and have a hearty meal later on for dinner. This is to teach myself to be patient with food - part of the snacking issue comes from just not being able to wait until the next meal. This should train it. This is also why I have a calorie range - I should be eating around 1650 calories a day form what I gathered, so going over on certain days will ensure I make up for the deficit I will certainly have on fasting days. So those are my health goals for the physical aspect of my life. Social - Emotional Blogging practice I really want a blog one day. Check in daily into NF Post a daily animation on my Tumblr (here, for those interested, though it's mostly a collection of mind blurbs and some of those are in French) Art - Spiritual Draw I haven't drawn anything in weeks and it's starting to get closer to months Set aside at least 1h per week to draw. Post progress picture. Learn - Mental Finish the edX Nutrition Course Nutrition and Health Part 1: Macronutrients and Overnutrition It's excellent, approaches the whole question of nutrition from a biological and medical standpoint while being very honest about the limitations of research. It anybody has the time to audit it or wish to get a certificate, they will re-run it this month. I have been on and off it for months, no thanks to the "self-paced" format. I really, really want to wrap it up over the next couple weeks and move on to Part 2. Work on the assignments of the course at least 4 hrs every week. That is it. I think you can see how this works - there is a "main area" for development, and then small goals for all the rest. They rotate. Side Quest: Monkey Level 2. I have not forgotten, no. ^^

IT IS THE END. Of Procrastination. My clothes won't fit me anymore. I had to go back to some of my fat clothes!!!!! There is no more avoiding the problem, and I WILL have to tackle it now. Also, focusing on the ROOT CAUSE, not just on the symptoms (overeating). The root cause is that I let Work Take Over My Life. This led to eating lots of sandwiches, snacking, me feeling bad and inhaling SUPER LARGE amounts of food, me feeling worse and not exercising, then eating lots of food to compensate and make myself feel better. Last time I successfully focused on my health and learning proper eating habits, I had been assigned a rather easy project, that left me time for ME. But life doesn't wait "until you have an easy project". So I am prioritizing my health over my work. I will leave early, be happy with 80% rather than almost kill me going to 99%. I am going to live MY life, not let work BE my life. But I've stumbled by setting goals that were too hard before, so baby steps this month. 1- Take back my life - Get out of work at 6pm, which means being super efficient the rest of the day. Other people do it, I will do it too. - Go home early and DO WHAT I LIKE rather than being a zombie at home after long hours at work - Be honest: weight in at least once a week, no more putting my head in the sand 2- Focus on my health - Sleep: early, until late, a lot, without distraction - Slow down when I need to: it's okay to stay home to recuperate - Exercise again, even if it's hard - exercise 5 times a week, comp allowed (I know I will do it) and do a set of 10 push ups every day 3- Learn to eat again - Stop being afraid of hunger: this can only be done through fasting. So no food after 9pm or before noon. This 15-hour fast can be pushed back if need be (e.g., late dinner). - Log in everything that I eat. If I'm ashamed of writing it down, I should probably not eat it - Focus on fruits and vegetables for snacking - Learn that it's okay not to eat rice/pasta/bread with every meal - Eventually go Paleo This is doable - I've done it for 2 days already! The key is to remind myself that I am doing this FOR ME. Because I WANT TO do it. And also to cut myself some crap: If I want to have a Starbucks drink, it's okay - but I need to cut something else instead.

Challenge #11 MAIN GOAL: THE FORCE SHALL FREE ME (from Bodyfat) QUEST 1 - THROUGH VICTORY MY CHAINS ARE BROKEN [Nutrition: Intermittent Fasting] Second try to reintroduce 24h IF. QUEST 2 - THROUGH POWER I GAIN VICTORY [Nutrition: Snacking/Tea] Those two goals worked pretty good last challenge, therefore I'm combining them for this one to solidify the habbit. QUEST 3 - THROUGH STRENGTH I GAIN POWER [simple & Sinister III of XII] Continuing the daily Swinging and TGUing. QUEST 4 - THROUGH PASSION I GAIN STRENGTH I'm doing the Armstrong Pull-Up Programm again, this time on Rings (gymnastic ones, not like in the picture ). That means 5 consecutive days a week push-ups in the morning and a pull-up workout at night. QUEST 5 - PEACE IS A LIE THERE IS ONLY PASSION [strength Endurance] Pushing and Pulling is covered by quest 4, but I don't intend to forget my hinge, core and leg work. At least twice a week.

As someone who has lost 30+ pounds on two separate occasions on the knowledge of "Eating many meals a day will keep your metabolism fired up" and have never heard of intermittent fasting until a few days ago, I'm kind of skeptical about it. So my question is for the people who have successfully lost weight in the past based on eating many meals a day: Have you noticed any difference between the two methods? Does one work better than the other? Do you also only eat between the hours of 12PM and 8PM and skip breakfast? Isn't it difficult to workout on an empty stomach? Thanks for any and all info

What's everyone's take on maintaining an intermittent fasting regimen whilst also maintaining performance in an endurance event? I'm currently doing 16/8 intermittent fasting (nothing to eat between 8pm and 12pm the next day), but have a couple of events on the horizon that would require me to perform in a fasted state for a few extra hours - a karate grading that would be at about 1pm that I won't have the chance to eat prior to, and a 50km (31mi) mountain bike race that begins at 11am. I'll have home made energy gel (honey, rice malt syrup, molasses) on me for the MTB race, but will that be enough? This IF thing is working for me, so I'm sticking with it, but I'm concerned that I'll have an energy crash if I take on these 2 events fasted. What's everyone else's experience and recommendations? I'm really interested to hear.

Hi all. I am back this year for the second month! Yeah!!! However, this time. I am simplifying my quests. With my demands on work and writing rising, I cannot focus very well on measurement and strict exercise routines. I would just try the spontaneous ways. Exercise with friends. Have fun with it, and be as flexible as possible. Here is my challenge Exercise 100 push ups a day. 5 days of any exercises a week including: lifting, muay thai, tricking, body weight workouts, soccer, basketball, badminton, etc. 10 mi of rangering a week including: running, swimming, walking Diet less than 10 sweets this challenge Eat Greens everyday Intermittent fasting 3 days a week Life Creative writing 3 days a week. (Helpful that I have a writing competition going.) 3 comments to fellow NF at least 4 days a week. Sleep more than 7 hours everynight. Work on dissertation/ papers at least 4.5 hours a day 4 days a week There you go. Keep it simple is the best!!!

Challenge #9 For the first/second challenge in 2016 (and the first ones under the new rules) I decided to go with the general Rebels instead of spending time in the cozy assassins guild (aka I'm getting out of my comfort zone). This "trip" (and further ones in the future to other guilds) had actually been planned for some time, now seems like the perfect opportunity. The overall Challenge Goal will not change from last year (as implicated by the challenge theme) and will probably take some more challenges: getting rid of the belly (aka take the fat out of skinny-fat), measured by bodyfat percentage. Right now I'm at about 23%, the goal for this cycle of challenges is less than 15%. With the old format I'd planned to get down to under 20% after this challenge, but for 4 weeks, that is probably too much.... I'll go with a goal range of 20-21%. Background story (this time it takes place in the universe of Mark Anthonys Last Rune series) Everyone at the Grey Tower said I was crazy. But I'm not. I have a goal. The runespeakers are just hiding in their books ignoring the real world. They know the end of the world is coming, but do they do anything? No! Sure, they are looking for the solution. But nothing seems good enough, so they continue looking.... I've been on this quest since I became a Master of the Grey Tower myself. There is only one dragon left in Eldh. He has the power to stop the Pale King. Maybe he will not help us or not in the way I hoped, but still my quest is better than those of my brothers wasting time. I cannot give up. I have gathered the necessary knowledge and the runes are guiding me. The only thing I have to do is follow through. Through the wastelands of the east, the free cities of the south and now the desert of the south. I'm wandering, though I'm not lost.... I have a goal! QUEST 1 : NUTRITION I'm putting a little more weight on quality in this area. Still going to track my intake, like last challenge. But I also want to do some paleo batch cooking. Mission: Track Calorie/Protein/Fat/Carb intake and stay within range Eat at least 80% paleo Batch cook something paleo once per week QUEST 2 : SIMPLE & SINISTER [ I OF XII ] This will be the year of Kettlebell for me. Each challenge will have a Swings and TGU quest programmed after Simple & Sinister. The miniumum amount of work for the whole year is 30000 Swings and 1500 TGU (per side), but technically it could be up to 36600/1830. But that is all just a background workout and shouldn't interfere (negatively I mean, positive results are hoped for of course) with whatever I focus on in my challenges. Mission: 50 - 100 Swings per day (either two or one-handed) usually with a 24kg but on light days with 16kg 5 Turkish Get-Ups per side per day with a 12kg or a 16kg an occasional day off is fine like once a week QUEST 3 : INTERMITTENT FASTING I used to have good experiences with those. But stopped because it interfered with work (meals were a very important social thing at my old workplace). Now it is time to get them Fasting days back. Mission: Once a week don't eat for 24 hours QUEST 4 : STRENGTH (ENDURANCE) WORKOUT This quests purpose is two-fold. Like last challenge it is supposed to keep my strength at a good level (don't want loose them gainz). Also since a pure calorie burn workout quest didn't work out (haha) last time, I'm incorporating this into the strength goal. Mission: Minimum Strength Workout (one exercise out of two of Push/Pull/Hinge/Squat) 4x per week Strength Endurance Worktout (like EMOM or for time or AMRAP for example) 2x per week Maximum Strength Workout (3 exercises out of one of Push/Pull/Hinge/Squat) 2x per week LIFE QUEST : JOB + APPARTMENT HUNTING This interim solution is coming to an end (like it should), now I need a new job and place to live for about the next 15 months (aka a base of operations and a budget to tackle those big life quests) Mission: Send out applications Since I can't see how the Character Creation and Epic Questing integrates with the stat points I'll leave them out for now.

I've been a lurker on Nerd Fitness for quite a while, and finally decided I'd start a thread of my own to track my progress to gain muscle mass while staying lean. Here's a little back story to who I am, and my fitness/diet history. I'm 32 years old, and have 3 daughters with ages 10 years, 2 years, and 15 weeks. I have a wonderfully supportive wife, who does more for me than I deserve. So basically the only males in the house are me and my Alaskan Malamute, so we're quite outnumbered. This will be a long post consisting of my dieting/fitness history, but I'll provide a simple summary of current goals and fitness/diet plan at the end, so feel free to skip the long story section if you want or it gets boring. Long Story: I didn't really get overweight until after I separated from the military in 2006. I was a Seabee in the military (construction), and tended to stay in pretty good shape the majority of the time. I got my college degree, separated from the military, and started working as a Software Engineer a month later. Over several years the weight started piling on, and I topped out at a weight of 192 pounds and 30% body fat in April 2011 due to stress, poor eating habits, and decreased activity. I'm only 5'6" tall, and had typically hovered in the range of 155-165 for my adult life. I decided on 4/9/2011 to get a handle on the weight through a combination of tracking calories, running, and weight training. I moved to maintenance on 8/27/2011 when I made it down to 154 lbs, and a body fat of about 18%. I fluctuated up and down between 146-165 lbs. for the next two years, and focused on increasing my running ability. I ran a 5k, 10k, half marathon, marathon, and finally a 50k during this time. After running the 50k, I decided that I wanted to have a lower body fat and weight than the 155 lbs. and 18% body fat I had fluctuated around up to this point. On 10/14/2013 I dedicated myself to getting down to 145 lbs., and re-evaluating at that point. I reached that goal on 11/6/2013, but my body fat had only decreased to 17%. I still looked pretty similar, since I had lost probably about half muscle mass and half body fat. I seem to lose a decent amount of muscle mass when I diet, and I knew that if I wanted to lower my body fat further I'd probably lose muscle right along with it. I then decided I'd just go all the way down to about 10%, and just accept the loss of muscle mass that comes with it. I reached mid-10% body fat on 7/3/2014, and have been eating maintenance for the past four weeks to give my body some time to stabilize and it seems to have settled at 129-130 lbs. and 10.8% body fat. I'm now on a quest to slowly add back some muscle mass, while staying lean. As of Monday I've set my weekly calories in an estimated surplus of 2000, and I'm using a calorie cycling strategy of: Mon (+700), Tue (+700), Wed (-750), Thurs (+700), Sat (+700), Sun (-750). Why the drastic cycle of calories, you ask? Well I enjoy eating big, and I have a bottomless stomach. I'm very much a man of extremes, and I find it easier to eat big when I'm letting myself eat, and eat small when I'm trying to keep things restrained. I'm a big fan of intermittent fasting, and I follow the blogs of Anthony Mychal, Leangains, Brad Pilon, etc. I've been doing 16/8 fasting since around January for days that I eat maintenance, while also incorporating two days of Eat Stop Eat style where I just eat dinner one day each week (so I only had below maintenance calories two days per week). Currently I lift weights every day, as I've slowly built up the tolerance to it since last October, and I just lift lighter when I feel residual soreness. This may change in the future, as I've started lifting heavier and adding weight now that I'm increasing calories, and may need more recovery time. I follow a 3-day split primarily composed of all compound movements: Day 1 Back/Biceps, Day 2 Chest/Shoulders/Triceps, Day 3 Lower Body. The exercises done on any given day may change, but the body parts I work don't. We'll just have to see how my body holds up. I also run 4 miles in steady state cardio fashion twice a week on my below maintenance calorie days. I'm debating on just eating in Warrior Diet fashion each day. I've been eating in a window from 12PM-8PM, but I find that I don't want to stop eating at 8. I think I'd rather just not eat until I get home from work about 5 PM, and just eat until I go to sleep around 9:30 PM. I'll probably switch back and forth on various days based on how I feel, and what fits my life best on the specific day. For instance I'm going to a daytime company picnic for my wife's job on Friday and then out to dinner for my sister-in-law's birthday that night, so it'll probably be a 16/8 day. After this post I'll add my data for the past couple days, and I'll try to update the log with my daily workouts and diet adherence. Hopefully this will add a little bit of pressure for adherence. I've attached my start pictures from Monday, and I'll try to upload monthly progress pictures, which will help to gauge my results. Summary: Stats: 5'6", 32 years old, Male, 129.18 lb trend, 10.85% body fat trend Goal: Add muscle mass while staying lean or until 15% body fat (hopefully the former) Diet Calories: Mon +700, Tues +700, Wed -750, Thurs +700, Fri +700, Sat +700, Sun -750 Macros: Protein (1.15 * bodyweight), Carbs (1.5 * bodyweight on +cal days), Fat (.4 * bodyweight) Strategy: Various fashions of intermittent fasting Workout Day 1 Back/Biceps, Day 2 Chest/Shoulders/Triceps, Day 3 Lower Body Two 4 mile runs per week on -cal days