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So things are going well right now. Yay! My goals for this challenge are pretty simple. 1. Keep lifting consistently. - I've been building up my main lifts again. I'm farthest along in Bench Press and OHP - for those two, I'm at the linear plateau again, so I'm starting to rep cycle to keep pushing up the weight, but I'm pretty happy where it is, so if I make progress very slowly from here, I'm good with that. I've just started working on building my Deadlift back up, so I'll be on a linear progression with that for a while. I've made a little progress with the curl bar, so that's nice. I'm starting to try to do Barbell Rows, although it still doesn't feel like I'm doing them right, and I think it will take some time to get the weight dialed in. This morning I ordered a lat pulldown addition for my rack, so that will be very very nice to have. I love doing pulldowns and I've wanted one for a long time. 2. Intuitive Eating - I'm not interested in counting calories or anything like that right now. My fallback position is IE, so I just want to try to honor hunger, fullness, nutrition, and taste, which to me is the heart of IE. I'm going to try give a general report of my performance each day, without having to get too specific. I've been doing this long enough to know when I'm eating well and when I'm eating like an idiot, and when extra treats are warranted and when they're not. And overall, things have been going well lately on this front. I've outgrown some of the emotional eating issues that used to plague me, so that's nice. I'm still recording my weight every few days or so, more for curiosity than anything. I don't have a weight goal, but I'd like to at least stay about where I am, so that I don't have to buy bigger pants. I think that's it for now. I haven't done very well with updating lately, so I'll try to do a little better with this challenge. We'll see how it goes.

Last challenge I realized I don't have to put forth Maximum Effort™ every day. I can just do the something that is not nothing and over the long run it will all add up. One of the things I used to say on here a lot is that Success is the accumulation of the consequences of good choices over time. I still believe that, and now I want to live like it. To that end, I'm going to keep with the KB workouts I've been doing about twice a week, because it's something and I'm actually doing it. I'll do my Bare Minimum™ stretches (30 seconds of forward fold and 30 seconds of squats) rather than doing nothing I'll do a walk every now and then rather than doing them never I'll of course keep cooking and focus on stopping eating when I feel full, and eating because I feel hungry, not for other reasons (except of course having a bite or two of something purely for the enjoyment of how it tastes) and not feel guilty about eating even when it IS for other reasons, or if I eat past feeling full. I'll weigh myself everyday because it's fun to have that many datapoints, but not ascribe emotional significance to a number on a scale. I'll post a gif here because even though this isn't really a themed challenge, gifs are fun.

Decisions I made during the last challenge: 1. I think I need to switch gyms. I'm currently with Planet Fitness, and I hate it. One of the things that brought me out of bulimia 6-7 years ago was barbell training; and I miss it terribly. Planet Fitness doesn't have any; but there is a new gym close to my house that is an old school gym that has many. Also the new gym claims to be open 24 /7, actually open 24/7. If it is that will help a lot because, most of the time I don't seem to be done with my day, in a way that I could workout until 8 or 9 in the evening, (when my planet fitness closes). I got some client payments last week and I'm financially stable right now, so I'm going to go check out the new gym tomorrow. 1 (a). Recently, Steve posted something on the NF Facebook page about working out every day of the week being easier than working out 2-4 times a week. And I realized, for me at least, that's true. When I worked out everyday, there was no question as to whether or not I'd workout that day, I didn't need motivation or even really a schedule, it was just a question of what the workout would be. I've been very cautious to workout every day again because I didn't want to retrigger the bulimia. (My purge method was excessive exercise). But if I make a workout everyday schedule with less intense, recovery, days; I'll lessen the risk of constant injury, and won't go overboard. 2. I really need to eat more, earlier in the day. I habitually eat very little during the day and then eat everything in the evening. But on the rare occasion that I eat enough during the day, my dinners at night become very reasonable, and I feel better overall. 3. I still need to drink more water and get more sleep. Goal 1: Workout every day. Goal 2. Eat more, earlier, in smaller portions, and everything should be clean Goal 3. Water-6 cups at least; Sleep -6 hours at least. Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Work Work Work Work Work Jujitsu (AM) Church “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ Cardio Resistance Jujitsu (PM) Life Group Errands Cardio Resistance Endurance or Speed Hams (RDLs) & Chest Yoga Abs Yoga Endurance Hams (RDLs), Lats & Delts

In the last challenge I chose to hover my progress on my KB workouts rather than have a stall forced upon me. It worked, and I started progressing again, but then consistency suffered. In the last two weeks of the challenge I only got one workout per week. While I'm not beating myself up for that, I am seeking consistent workouts. I have goals: 2-3 KB workouts per week. I do the NF Beginner Kettle Bell workout. I'm currently using a fifteen pound bell, and very slowly adding reps rather than racing to the top. I found two challenges ago this helps with consistency. 5 words. Something else I want consistency in is writing. I have a google doc set up, and the goal is to write at least five words a day in it. It's something specific, and I'll reveal what it is at a later date. Cook, and continue with intuitive eating. A word of warning, don't come here hungry. I tend to be...descriptive about the things I cook. Those are good, solid goals.

I turn 40 on the Thursday of zero week. Accurate or not, that seems to me to be the beginning of middle age. Middle age gets a bad rap in the US, there is the mid-life crisis in popular media, for example. I have decided not to fear the onset of middle age, but to accept it. I have also decided I'm not worried about whether I have a "dad-bod," a big gut, or to focus on my waistline at all. I accept my body as it is. I really don't have too much trouble accepting my appearance, aside from how large my stomach looks when I see it at any other angle than straight on. Having said that, there are some functional aspects of it being as big as it is I don't care for. One is that when I bend over, the excess fat presses on my diaphragm and makes breathing more difficult. I'd like to tie my shoes without holding my breath. The other is clothes. I have a long torso which makes finding clothes difficult. I'm about 6 feet tall, but only have a 30 inch inseam. I have to buy tall shirts so that my shirt tails don't keep slipping out of the front of my pants. Also, the waistline of my pants wants to slip down off my mid-line down under the gut. The problem here is that my torso is so long this often exposes the bottom part of my belly if my shirt isn't tucked in, or even causes the shirt to come un-tucked if it is. Those two problems are my main motivation for having a smaller stomach. One thing I do like about aging is the experience and wisdom I gather along the way. It's fun being able to help people with things I know simply because I've been around longer than them. As I type this out, I realize that "Distinguished" is more about attitude, and how I carry myself, than it is my body size. Aging realisticaly means my body-care is more is more and more important as time goes on. I can feel the wind changing to indicate I'm coming out of my COVID slump. At the end of last challenge I began to feel confidence come back, and determination to stick with movement and nutrition. I'll continue embracing intuitive eating, while cooking as much as possible and relying on restaurant food as little as possible. I'll stick with the NF Beginner KB workout, aiming for 2-3 sessions a week. I'll continue with Bare Minimum™ stretching (30 seconds forward fold and 30 seconds frog-pose) 2-3 times a week, preferably with more stretches than the two required ones. I'll try to get some walks in. Here are some gifs because gifs. In honor of the theme, but only tangentially related to it, all gifs below are from the google image search "Middle Ages Gifs" The search algorithm really seems to like Hieronymus Bosch:

I've not been happy with my weight or my activity level lately. This is not about body image, I can see many positive things about my appearance. This is about function. I have enough extra weight around my waist that it pushes on my diaphragm when I bend over and makes it hard to breathe. I don't like that. I have enough extra weight that makes it harder and more tiring to move. I don't like that. I'm not moving as much as i used to, and it negatively affects mood and energy levels, I don't like that. What I do have is this amazing community, and the knowledge that the only way to lose is to give up. I like that. This article about not giving up is very helpful. Therefore, I'm not giving up. I'd rather do 10% of something than 100% of nothing. Goals: Yoga, Walking, KettleBells, Cooking. Do them. Preferably regularly. Here are some gifs:

I was wondering what to title my challenge and I decided I'm doing the same challenge I've done for quite a while, so I'll just slap a theme over the inital post. I doubt I'll stick with it much past zero week, but here we are. For those unfamiliar, Pucca is a Series from South Korea. Seasons 1-2 are available on Tubi, a free streaming service (with ads, but they are tolerable) and season 3 is on netflix. Season 1-2 Intro: Season 3 End Credits: There are apparently not a lot of Gifs easy to find. Goals: Eating and Cooking: Pucca lives with her Uncles in a Noodle House called Goh-Rong. The uncles use good ingredients and cook with passion for their craft and love for the food and their customers. I often talk about cooking on here, and I do hearby warn thee not to read my thread while Hungry. I also have been working on learning Intuitive Eating for a couple years now. I'll try to cook 5-7 times a week to feed myself and my family. Kettle Bells: Pucca is essentially a One Punch Man type character in that there may not be an upper limit to her strength. Indeed, by the end of season 3 villains are terrified of her. I can get stronger by maintaining consistency with Kettle Bells. Done properly, they let you get in strength and cardio at the same time. Yoga: Many Pucca Charcters are more Martial Artist than Yogi, but Yoga is a goal. I'll do the Yoga program on the NF Journey App. That's it, I'm not gonna overcomplicate things with more goals.

Hello. I am Stronkey Kong. Umm... Been on NF over seven years. I'm still fat and making the best of it. Which means I'm tempering my goals, accepting what is and what is not (feasibly and sustainably) possible. I eat as healthy as I can while enjoying my food. I move as often as I can while enjoying movement. I think. I create. I devise elaborate plans for challenges and eschew all rules as soon as convenience dictates. <sigh> This challenge is inspired by a recent dream I had. This is one of my stress dreams. It came after spending a week switching to day shift, rather abruptly, after having been on night shift for over a year, going to a training course across town, then coming back to work to find out that someone more senior than me, and training/guiding me at work is leaving in another week and then I'm pretty much on my own kinda. Idk. This is gonna get tough. I suppose the point/meaning of this dream, if they do have meanings, is that I need to avoid quick fixes and work on my coping mechanisms ahead of stressors. Then there's the fact that I'm turning my attention back to mindfulness and my Buddhist practice. I have dabbled and practiced with varying degrees of seriousness in Zen. I'm currently learning about Tibetan Buddhism and reading and meditating on Way of the Bodhisattva by Shantideva, and am planning to get back into my meditation routine. If you've never heard the term, Bodhisattvas are beings who have attained enlightenment, but rather than pursuing full Buddhahood (where you get to just chill out in Nirvana for eternity, free from suffering) they choose to return to Samsara (the eternal cycle of life, suffering, death, and rebirth) to guide other beings on the path to enlightenment. Hence, they are good examples to follow for freeing oneself from suffering and helping others. I could go on on this topic, but I'll leave it there for now. I just thought I'd let you know why I named my challenge as I did. And then there's the Big List... which I made during the Holiday challenge as a set of goals to pursue long term. From this list I usually create a goal or two from something on the list to work toward, and lately I usually focus on Intuitive Eating, Exercise, Creativity, and buying a home. My goals are listed in order of general priority. I'm putting the TL;DR up front and spoilering the details to tidy things up here: TL;DR Mindfulness: daily meditation with increasing session times Lotus Position: stretch to improve lotus posture during meditation Nourishment: Eat mindfully and watch out for GERD symptoms Movement: Qigong Abode: spring cleaning Creativity: Knit a Beanie or Finish part one of my fantasy novel Wisdom: Study The Way of the Bodhisattva Knowledge: study Tibetan language

Last challenge I realized I have compassion fatigue and early stage burnout. This is not surprising given my profession (Hospital Chaplain) and the state of the world (pandemic), and the fact that our team of chaplains at my facility was at 50% strength for some time. I have a session during zero week with a counselor to begin addressing the burnout and compassion fatigue, and one chaplain who was out on leave is coming back, and we are getting another chaplain transferring in to bring us up to full strength. I also have a week off from work during week 4 of the challenge. Those will help. Good news from last challenge is that I got my A1C back down out of the pre-diabetic range. What will help along with the counseling and week off is Not Giving Up (a title I also considered for the challenge) on fitness and nutrition. I will stick with walks, KB workouts, and Stretching. I will continue to cook healthy meals and eat intuitively. Also, as I write this, the leaves have finally finished coming off my red oaks and I can already see the buds of new leaves on the tree. We are in the waiting stage of winter (such as it is for South Texas) and The Vernal Equinox will happen right after the end of the challenge. So as the plants wait for spring to bud forth, I wait for the effects of continuing on with fitness and nutrition to become visible. This is a challenge of patience, of healing, and of hope. Always hope. P.S. I tend to write about what I cook in ways that induce hunger, so don't come here if you are hungry, and even if you aren't hungry, it's not a bad ide to have a snack to hand before checking on my thread. You have been warned.

I'm Stronkey Kong -- neutral good human/wizard adventurer/warrior hybrid. I made a list for Santa during the holiday challenge. That is now 'The Big List' that I'm trying to achieve goals on to improve life, health, and fitness. Right now the big things on my plate are strength training, getting outdoors and walking/hiking, cooking/eating healthier, painting/drawing, and buying a home (my Wizard's tower). I left off last challenge building a foundation of barbel training, batch cooking, and just put an offer on a house. Here's the big list: (spoilered cuz it's a big list) And here's what I'm focusing on for this challenge. Intuitive Eating: Keep batch cooking tasty, healthy meals Start food journaling, Bujo portions and notes on mood, energy, etc. Intuitive Exercising: Keep up the barbell program 2+ times /week Ruck (>= 1 mi) or walk (>= 2 mi) 1+ times/week Painting and drawing: Ahh.... just keep going. But especially with the ink drawings right now because that makes me focus... cuz you only get one chance with ink. Buying my Wizard's Tower: This one's an ongoing to-do list Satisfy requirements for loan Gather documents Do taxes Complete first-time homeowner class(es?) Realtor/Property Search Look at moar houses. Work and save Respond to shop manager about the lab position Tax returns: Set aside a portion for first-time homeowner classes Save the rest

So, somebody developed a fixation on Mount Everest during these trying times. it's me, I developed a fixation on Mount Everest during these trying times I don't remember what got me into googling about the mountain, watching tons of gopro videos on Youtube and reading Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air. Sometimes, when I'm exhausted with my life, I get fixated on stuff this way - but, in my defense, it's a pretty interesting mountain, alright?? Climbing Everest requires so much effort and resources that I will never do it (also, I'd die in 20 different ways), but rock climbing has offered me a perpective on changing habits and self-development. I have this idea that changing your life is like a movie montage, where you just magically end up where you're supposed to be in a fun scene. But in reality, change takes time and effort. There are setbacks and days when you're tired. This isn't a bad thing, but the way I've been looking at my life has been kinda impatient, thinking that I should already have this and should already have accomplished that, when I simply haven't gotten there yet! When climbing a big-ass mountain, you need to pace yourself, acclimatize, evaluate your decisions well and trust your team. I need to understand that I have no rush to be where I want to be (pace yourself), and if I take time to make small changes over time, I won't get overwhelmed (acclimatization). When a new situation emerges, I can think about where I'm headed and decide, where to go (evaluate your decision well). Also, spending time around like-minded people and asking for help when needed can help me reach my goals in a more pleasant way - and I can also support other people to live their best life (trust your team). So, this is gonna be my way of looking at things as I keep developing habits and systems, which I started in previous challenge. My three habits: 1) Eat a proper breakfast and lunch Eating a big breakfast and lunch have proven to help me eliminate snacking and excessive cravings (some cravings are a-ok). I have been eating a big breakfast and big lunch, and now I want to focus on finding a couple of new lunch alternatives I'd like. - eat a big breakfast and lunch at lest 20 times a month - try out at least two new lunch recipes during the challenge 2) Journal a couple of times a day I will stack the habit of journaling on my other habits to make them stick better. 1. When I wake up in the morning and put on the lights, I write one page worth of text in my journal. 2. When I go to bed in the evening, I write another page. Small, but that's acclimatization, baby!! 3) Do a strength training workout twice a week I bought a course that has workouts you can do at home. So, twice a week, I'll do a strength training workout Bonus: Do something nice for someone else and/or ask for help at least once a day I have issues with trusting people and thinking that they want to support me (I have experiences of bullying and being used), even though I have wonderful friends and family around me. I'm thinking that if I focus on making someone else's day a bit brighter, I might find a new way of looking at this issue. I tend to withdraw and suffer in silence, so I've tried to learn to ask for help when I need it and trust that I'm not a burden to others. So, I will either find a way to make someone's day a little brighter or ask for help when I need it every day. I'll revise my progress at the end of each week. Let's goooooo!

Hi nerds!! (That's a corgi and not a fox, but just like me, it's waving at you) I'm returning to NF after being away for a few months. This year has been very tiresome, but overall, I'm happy. I have attended therapy this year and I feel like I've made a lot of personal progress, I have studied for my second master's thesis, and I have secured a job at my local library where I get to work with our website and other IT systems. The work is interesting, my team is wonderful, and I get to work remotely 80% of the time. So, at the end of the year, I'm happy to say that things have turned out pretty well! It's just that during my Christmas break, I binged the both seasons of The Mandalorian and realized that I need someone to nerd out about it with Then I remembered that NF has been a place filled with very friendly nerds, so... here I am! As for my goals... I'm taking this as a respawn challenge, where I figure out my exact goals for long term. I am pretty happy with where I am, but I am currently pretty excited about design thinking - I want to find out, what I need, and design my everyday life so that I am as happy and satisfied as possible. Instead of starting by looking at outside resources, I start with analyzing myself and my needs, and then figure out exactly what to do. I'm also going to corporate some systems thinking to figure out, for example, how to organize my laundry in a way that minimizes the times I need to do my laundry during the week And how many times I need to meal prep, order food online (I barely go to the store anymore haha), exercise, do house cleaning... You get the idea. I'm going to do this in order to make changes that will last for long, and make it as easy and natural for myself as possible. I don't believe that self-criticism can take me far anymore, because so far it has failed every time. I want to support myself and make positive changes. This also includes practicing intuitive eating, getting enough sleep and taking care of my dental health, among other things. Welcome aboard, if you're interested! I will be writing about my thought processes a lot, and figuring out goals as I go. New Year, here we come!

Hello Friends! If you're new to my threads, feel free to check out my battle log for some backstory. It turns out being an infectious disease doctor in a global pandemic comes with a fair amount of stress and over-work. I'm trying to regroup and dig deeper into self care and healing. Goals: 1) Breathwork - I found a teacher named Eryn, who leads frequent courses on breathwork. I've been using this three part active breath to really help calm my nervous system and convince my body that it's safe. It's allowed me to do some deep processing of wounds that I received in childhood. - Sign up for any classes that Eryn offers. - Use recordings from Patreon to practice at least weekly. 2) Health Team Homework - My health team currently includes Taylor (my therapist), Rebecca (my IE-certified dietician), and Amy (my health coach). I work with them at least weekly and they frequently assign me homework to work on between sessions. - Report on my calls with my health team. - Work on my homework between calls. There's a lot of stuff going on in other areas of my life as well, which I'm happy to talk about if people are interested. This is a good start however!

It's been a while since I re-introduced myself. I'm Stronkey Kong (for now). Over the 7+ years I've been on the NF forums, I've previously been known as (from most to least recent) Chris Tarly, Brogo, Curl Brogo, and Darwin's Demon. The focus of most of my previous challenges has been some combination of gaining strength and losing weight. While I've got some benefits from strength training, my weight loss battle is mostly a losing battle full of frustrations. Recently I've been reading about Intuitive eating and Health at Every Size, and have been focusing health and being more active. I used the holiday challenge to outline some big goals (aka the big list): (spoilered cuz the list is long) I'm gonna keep this list around so I can edit it and add ideas. The big overarching challenge now is that I need to start working more hours since it supports a number of my life goals like creating more paintings (buying supplies and a DSLR camera) and saving up to buy a house. I'm going to have to shoot to start working 45 hours a week to be able to save what I need to. For the challenge I'm gonna take some of the main, long-term goals, the pick one goal for each to work on to make progress toward the big one. So here they are: Become an intuitive eater -- Buy and prep a variety of satisfying, healthy foods for my lunches I take to work. Become an intuitive exerciser At least 20 min of daily movement Keep creating -- Hyperrealistic paintings Three times a week, work on painting and drawing (drawing practice, prepping canvas, anything) Buy my Wizard's Tower Stay on top of my to-do list: Gather documents for loan agent meeting Loan agent meeting on Jan 6 Work (45+ hours a week) and save according to plan

(We're just gonna pretend this came at the end of Terra Prime and not that other episode that came after but did not, in fact, actually happen) I really like Star Trek, and with the new stuff out this year have reignited my love for same. I was wondering what to do for a challenge theme, but this is it. As it has been for a while, I'm really just slapping a Star Trek Patina over the same challenge I did for most of last year. Kettle Bells The NF KB workout has goblet squats, so this works. I'll do the KB workout 2-3 times per week. Yoga Yoga is good. I'll shoot for 2-3 sessions per week. Intuitive Eating Eat when I'm hungry and stop when I'm full. Also, don't read this thread if you are hungry. Trust me. Walking I'll go for walks with the baby when possible.

I've put my narrative energy into the Mini Challenge this time around, so here is a place for me to report on daily activities: Goals: Cook and eat intuitively. Do KB workouts. Do mobility stuff or Yoga. Those three things are the core of my fitness plan right now. Here are some gifs because my initial post is simple.

An analogy I'm rather fond of is comparing progress or healing to chopping down a tree. Each individual swing of the axe seems to have very little individual effect. However, if one keeps swinging, eventually the tree will go down. It will feel like there is no progress; if one judges the effectiveness of an individual swing by whether or not it brings down the tree there is a huge set up for disappointment. When the three does fall, giving the credit to the final swing dishonors every other swing that came before. Each swing of the axe is equally important, for they all contributed to the fall of the tree. With that said, here's how I will be swinging the axe. Workouts: I'll shoot for three KB workouts a week. It doesn't really matter how many reps or how heavy the bell, what matters is I consistently work out. I'll shoot for three stretch sessions a week. At least 30 seconds each of forward fold and squat are what are needed to get credit. That may not seem like much, but consistency even with those two stretches have positive benefits over time. Nutrition: I'll keep cooking as often as I can. I'll eat out as little as possible. Because of my pre-diabetes warning, I'll have as little added sugar as I can. As a warning, I often describe what I have cooked in ways that make people want to eat, so I advise you to come to this thread well fed.

I'm sick of Covid and Covid accessories. The vitriol has become more tiresome than the virus. I also work as a hospital chaplain, so there we are. My wife is a High School Spanish Teacher, and school will "Start" during this challenge, though at minimum the first three weeks will be online. However, life still happens. I've taken my warning signs of pre-diabetes seriously, and plan to continue with that by cooking at home as much as possible, eating out as little as possible (which includes delivery of prepared food), and having as little sugar as possible. I plan to do Kettlebells following Nerd Fitness' Beginner KB workout, and to do yoga. If the budget allows it, I'll get the bike I was given last challenge set up and buy a helmet and start riding some.

How it Should Have Ended is a great series on Youtube. In it, they point out plot holes and places where characters from Nerd Movies act like idiots. Here's an Example: I thought it a fitting theme because I'm at a turning point. Last challenge at the beginning I was diagnosed with High Blood Pressure. At the end I was diagnosed with pre-diabetes. I can either make changes to prevent diabetes, or I can do nothing and get sick. As a hospital Chaplain in a town with a diabetes problem, I see the results of un-managed diabetes all the time: patients on dialysis because their kidneys got damaged, patients with neuropathy, patients going blind (I don't encounter that as often), patients loosing toes, feet, even legs to un healed wounds, poor circulation, or both (see that all the time). I always told myself if I ever get pre-diabetes I would deal with it before it got to full diabetes, to avoid the complications of full blown type II diabetes. That way the movie of my life doesn't have a diabetes-problems sub-plot. Goals: Kettlebells: Keep swinging them. The goal is 3 times a week do the NF Beginner Kettlebell workout with a 20# bell in the first round and a 15# bell for the next two rounds. Yoga: Stretch 2-3 times a week. Walks: Take them. Nutrition: I'm going to eat as though I have diabetes. The focus is on unrefined carbs, plenty of veggies, some fruit, and good protein. I'm American, I'm gonna get fat in my diet . To get there I'm gonna make baby steps. The Baby step for this challenge is the nutrition goal I had when I came back to NF in 2015: no more than three restaurant meals (in house, take out or delivery all count) a week. Some bonus goals here: Try overnight oats as a breakfast option. If I do frozen breakfast, do carb-free versions. Realize that sugary treats exist, and I'm not saying I'll never have them, just acknowledge they won't help me treat pre-diabetes with nutrition (the intuitive eating book does say if you eliminate foods because of allergy or whatever sugar is to diabetes it's not the same as restricting it for dieting) find convenient healthy snacks, especially for work (I'm going to stop protein drinks and bars for a while because too much protein can be hard on kidneys) Good things I'm already going I want to stick with and or strengthen Keep using Emeals "Healthy 30 minute meals" plan. They have a diabetes plan but it looks boring. Keep focusing on the intuitive eating ideas of listening to hunger and fullness signals (especially fullness signals) and honor both make decisions about what to eat in the grocery store rather than the pantry Those are some good goals for now.

I'm tired now and going to go to bed rather than write this out. Had the page open for a while and been processing my thoughts. I'm gonna try a narrow focus on Intuitive Eating this challenge, and nothing else. Gonna steal Jupiter's 100%/10% thing. Good day, I'll put some real effort into the Workbook and share thoughts, bad day, I'll at least post the words "intuitive eating" here as a tool for keeping it in my thoughts. We'll see how things go. Now, look at a butterfly, or not. Definitely not. Getting a "-200" message and "Upload Failed", so no buterfly for you.

The Uncertainty is getting to me. I remember the before times, and wish they could go back. I think to the future, and know this will eventually end. Right here, right now, it feels like we are locked in a never ending cycle. There will come a time when I scream defiance at the universe and decide to Ranger the Heck out of my circumstances. Right now, as I write this challenge before the previous one ends, I know what will help is to lean into the angst and acknowledge it. What better way to do that than to post songs from Angst Rock? Angst Rock is the name I made up for Rock that feels angsty to me. It can include Pink Floyd, much of 90s grunge and Alt, and a few other things. It may very well be that I get to determined before the challenge ends. If so great, but I know what I need to post now is Angsty. This is the definition of Angst to me. It's the song I play when I want to remember what it was like to be a teen and think that no one understands me. Goals: Continue with KB workouts. I wasn't as consistent with three workouts a week in the previous challenge as I was in the two before it, but I did enough to move up. Therefore, I will keep doing the NF Beginner KB workout. The first round will be with my 20lb bell, the 2nd and third will be with my 15 lb bell. This is a step up from last challenge, where I was doing all three rounds with the 15lb bell. The goal is 3 times a week. Comfortably Numb is the superior Floyd Song, and arguably more angsty, but this feels more strung out. Goals: Yoga 2 to 3 times a week. Has to include frog pose and forward fold if I make it up, videos do not necessarily have to include frog pose. Whatever your views of country music, you can't deny some of it is Angsty Goals: Walks For goodness sakes, do some. I've not been going on walks for far too long. The goal is to rebuild the habit. How can you angst without a Nirvana Song? Goals: Continue to lean into intuitive eating. Lately I've been in a stage of letting myself have things I've long denied myself. I've been on this IE journey for some time, and have found things to let myself have. Right now I'm leaning into chocolate and cookies. This is fine. It's part of the process. The point of these songs and this acknowledgement of Angst is not to surrender to the Angst. It's not giving up. It's validating the Angst and myself for feeling it. Rather than a surrender, it's a declaration of war. I will not fight the angst head on. I will accept it and myself and find meaning in it. Universe, you cannot bring me down by inducing angst, you can only make me stronger, for I will integrate these feelings and love myself in so doing.

(The song has 10 years in the title and it's my favorite band). Hard to believe it's been ten years gone since the first challenge. I haven't been here the whole time, but I've been here for more than half. I joined NF in August 2012 after simply googling the phrase "Nerd Fitness." I was looking for a way to get fit, hoping to join the Army National Guard as a Chaplain. That didn't happen, and I'm ok with that, but I did find NF and joined the forums. I archive binged Steve's articles up to that point and started commenting on threads in the forums. A new challenge had recently started, and I wanted to get in at the beginning of a new one, so I started a battle log (that now I can't find). It felt like forever till that new challenge came around (This was the days of the 6 week challenges), but I joined the adventurers in the challenge (Links to all my challenges in signature) that started September of that year. At that time the Adventurers were the newbie guild. I did two challenges with the adventurers till my back got sore and I did a challenge with the druids in the beginning of 2013 that I dropped out of because I wasn't being consistent. After that, I left the job I had at the time and dropped off the forums because I had been accessing NF from work. I didn't really get online at home back then. Around 2015 I realized my now ex and I were headed for divorce, so I came back to the forums. I thought I got back on some time in March, but judging by when my temp battle log started, it was actually late June that year. I spent a lot of time welcoming newcomers in the Rebel Introduction Section. My first challenge back, and the first with the Rangers, was in July of 2015. During that challenge I made this post where I talked about getting a divorce. I had a lot of support. I also mentioned buying some Scotch and Cognac in that challenge, I still haven't finished them yet. Sometime in late 2015 I became an ambassador for the Rangers. I also started doing battle speeches in the Ranger General chat threads. 2016 was a building year, and the year I met my now wife. I got to go to Camp NF and meet several people from the forums. Not long after I became a Guild Leader for the Rangers. In 2017 I got married, and some people from NF came to the wedding! In late 2018 I became the Guild Leader Admin/Forum Commmander. In 2019 we bought a house had a baby. Now here we are at the 10th anniversary of the forums. In some ways 2020 is a respawn year for me. With the house and the baby last year my fitness consistency got away from me. I'm heavier than I've ever been as well. However, the first challenge of the year was all about consistency, and I set myself up to win by making the challenge very winnable. All I had to do was start a Kettlebell Session to get full credit. A single forward fold and single dip into frog pose were all I needed for yoga credit. Walking out of the house with the baby strapped on was all I needed for credit for baby rucking. I'm going to build on that success in this challenge. Here are my goals for the current challenge: Strength and Conditioning: I will do the Nerd Fitness Beginner Kettle Bell workout. Whereas last challenge I needed to start to get credit, this challenge I need to complete the first round and start the second round (1 rep is enough) to get credit. If I finish the second round, I'll stop there. I'm using a 15 pound bell, because with Kettlebells, it's not how heavy they are, it's how often you swing them. The goal is 13 KB sessions as described. Flexibility: Yoga time. In the last challenge all I had to do was a forward fold and frog pose for credit. This challenge I have to START (not necessarily finish) a yoga video for credit. NF Yoga Water A is preferred, but not mandatory. The goal is 8 sessions. Distance: Baby Rucking. We have a baby carrier I can use to strap the baby on and go for a walk. Last challenge I just had to get out the door. This challenge I just have to get to the mail center around the corner. The goal is 4 sessions, but if weather is inclement Yoga can be subbed. I don't mind going for a walk in bad weather, but I don't want the baby to get sick (First time parent syndrome). Nutrition: The main focus on nutrition is going to come in a few challenges once I have fitness consistency locked down. For now I have the untracked goal of continuing to cook regularly and minimize restaurant trips while continuing with Intuitive Eating. Let's Ranger this challenge!

Well, what an interesting place the world is in right now. I used my GL powers to post this thread early, though some of you can only see it when the forums went live. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, this is magic. All that to say the world as it is right now may not be the world as it is when the forums go live, so my apologies if anything is out of date. As some of you may know, I work as a hospital chaplain and volunteer as a police chaplain. That means I'm paying both personal and professional attention to the pandemic. It also means that I will still be going to work and won't be as isolated as many during the time while we try to flatten the curve of infection rates. As I prepared to write my challenge, I knew I would address the virus and the measures to combat it. The alliteration I mentioned from the title refers only to the title. Schools are shut down at least through April 3rd, and may be closed longer than that. My wife is a teacher, and is doing a form of working from home. Fortunately she will get her full salary during the shutdown. We are very blessed as we will both keep getting paid during the uncertainty. As a matter of fact, I'm going to call the virus situation The Uncertainty for the rest of this post. I may or may not remember to keep up with that for the rest of the challenge. Before we focus on the challenge at hand, let's look at lessons learned from the previous one. Kettle Bell Workouts went really well. I stayed consistent with them, and they are working for me. I'll keep going with those. I started Invisalign to straighten my teeth. That means I have trays that I change out each week that work to straighten my teeth. Most teeth have knobs glued to them to give the trays something to grab onto and push or pull. I can only eat with the trays out, and floss and brush before putting the trays back in. That inconvenience, coupled with the fact that the trays need to be on 21 hours a day or more to be effective, means I'm limited in when how often I eat. So far it hasn't been too bad, but as I write I only have one week of experience with them in. Yoga is proving to be a challenge, I made some semblance of doing yoga most days, but it wasn't for very long. Moving forward, here are my goals: Do the Nerd Fitness Beginner Kettlebell workout on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It has you do Halos, Squats, Overhead Press, Swings, Rows, and Reverse Lunges. Doing the prescribed reps for each exercise constitutes 1 round. Two challenges ago the goal was to start, but not go past the first round. Last challenge the goal was to start the second round, but not do more than the second round. This challenge the goal is to do the first two rounds and start the third. If I complete the third round that's fine, but the goal is just to start it. The Uncertainty won't affect this much because I own some Kettlebells. Nutrition: This one is nebulous, both because I'm still getting used to the Invisalign trays and because the grocery stores here haven't fully recovered from panic buying. I'm going to try to cook as much as I can and bring food from home to work. Beyond that, I may have to adapt pretty frequently due to The Uncertainty. Our city just ordered that all restaurants go to carry out or delivery only, so hopefully that will curtail our restaurant activity. Yoga: Twice a week I will do Yoga of some kind. This is where I want to put the focus of habit making. Starting it is easy enough. Now I want to focus on getting some quality and quantity. Walking: As long as it's safe, I'll go for a walk with my daughter strapped to my chest (She's six months old, so strapping her on isn't as weird as it would be in a few years) once a week.

Ok, the hardest part of any challenge is now completed; I've decided what to call this thing.

Perfectionism has overcome consistency in 2019. To start 2020 well means reversing that. In the last year I moved jobs in a lateral transfer from one hospital to another (I'm a chaplain), and my wife and I bought a house and had a baby (in that order). While it was an amazing year and a good one, it was stressful, and my fitness consistency went away. I never gave up in that time. Even so, I haven't worked out in so long I'm really feeling the effects. I want to try something different this time. Since consistency is more important than individual workouts, I'm focused on building consistency rather than building strength or endurance. I coined a phrase last year, "What matters with Kettlebells is not how big they are, but how often you swing them." This whole challenge is focused on building consistency. To that end, I'm redefining success for the purposess of this challenge. My goals have nothing to do with finishing workouts. Instead, my goals are all about starting them. To that end, one single rep of a KB workout counts as a win. A single forward fold of 1 second or more counts as a Yoga workout. Setting foot out the door with the baby counts as baby rucking. Furthermore, I'm not going to allow myself to complete certain workouts. The Nerd Fitness beginner Kettlebell workouts call for 3 rounds of 6 different exercises. I'm not going to allow myself to do more than one round of the KB workout for at least the first two weeks. If I've been consistent by that point, I may up the number of rounds, or I may not. No yoga sessions longer than 25 minutes. No more than a mile walking. Why am I giving myself full credit for barely doing anything and forbidding myself from doing more? Simply put, I want to punch my perfectionism in the face, shove it on the ground, kick it in the gut and make fun of the cartoons it watched as a child. Perfectionism unchecked will keep me from starting a workout for fear I won't finish it, thereby robbing me of the benefits of what I would have done before I gave up. I can work on strength and endurance one I have habits built. The reason I'm not letting myself do very much is I don't want to burn myself out. Starting slow means staying consistent, and consistency is the best way to win at being healthy. I'm also looking to build a routine. As such, here is what a week looks like in terms of fitness: Monday Morning, KB workout Tuesday Morning, Yoga Wednesday Late Morning, KB workout Thursday at some point, Baby Rucking Friday Late Morning, KB workout Saturday Late Morning, Yoga That might seem like a lot, except I'm keeping each individual workout small and short. I'd rather have the habit of doing something six days a week than one or two days of more intense work. Intensity can come later. Consistency is key. Here are my goals: 12 KB workouts Started (that gives me room for three days not to do them) 8 Yoga sessions started 4 Baby rucks Started Stick with Intuitive Eating. And that's it. At some point workout intensity and nutrition will become focuses, but that's for later. Now is for building consistency.