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“So, you’re the little one who has been giving my Jaffa so much trouble,” the deep, modulated voice said. Mizbrek looked up into a pair of glowing eyes, attached to a huge body. Bacchus wasn’t just obese, he was beyond that. The Jaffa behind him kicked at the back of his leg. “Kree! Kneel before your God!” “I was just passing through, oh...um...fulsome one?” Miz said to Bacchus. The goa’uld bristled. “Our god is simply full figured!” the First Prime barked, backhanding Miz with a metal glove. “Well, none may pass through our territory without at least one feast.” The goa’uld gestured behind his throne, where a table was laid with pastries, fried food, and decadent desserts. “You know, I’m actually trying to cut back, so maybe I’ll just head out to the Stargate,” Miz said, getting to his feet. Bacchus bristled. “None may refuse our hospitality! Jaffa! Kree! Kill the blasphemer!” Miz rolled back dodging zat and staff blasts. He leapt up, launching back towards a wall, grabbing his own staff off a Jaffa on the way. He caught two of the blasts of his staff, before leaping back against the wall, sweeping one of the guard’s legs out, and swinging a fist around, knocking the wind out of another, before taking off at a flat run. He heard Bacchus huffing, shuffling and roaring behind him as he pounded down the corridor. “JAFFA! KREE! KREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” Lessons From Last Challenge Overall last challenge went pretty well! In the time of that challenge I lost around 4 pounds total. For those who followed me, I defeated the Balrog, and earned myself a homebrewing kit! I have yet to purchase that but will share my forays into real life Brewmastery once I do! In terms of what worked, trying to work in the 6 workouts worked well, and allowing myself a variance on every item, not just the food, allowed me some welcome flexibility. In terms of what didn’t, I had a lot of trouble getting up and going by 5:30, and same for 8:30 on weekends, and the reading felt the most like a “chore” (though it’s gotten less so as my book has gotten good again). Challenge Overview This challenge I’ve cut down on a goal by one, with two of them tied to sleep. The overall theme here is to curb my indulgences and stay a bit more focused (hence the battling of Bacchus, this time in the Stargate universe!). Most of these I’ve done before - newspaper, reading NF threads, housework, but the new one I wanted to discuss a bit is the calorie deficit. I use an Apple Watch to track my heartrate at pretty much all times, and I log everything I eat into MFP. Through this and based on what it estimates my TDEE to be I have a running total at any given time of my calorie deficit for the day. Right now it’s sitting at 1909, for example, which makes sense, as I’ve worked out, had breakfast and lunch, and done a fair bit of walking today. So as a bit of an experiment, instead of saying my calories will be X or I’ll workout Y times, I’m instead saying that I’m going to aim for a 500-1000 calorie deficit, based on this tracking. Now I know some of you will remind me these things are notoriously inaccurate, and that’s fair. I will say I’ve also been using a spreadsheet designed by a couple fitness gurus to track my TDEE based on weight and calories over the last 15 weeks or so, and the numbers do work. So this is an experiment, to be sure, and I reserve the right to change this mid-challenge if it’s not working! The goal here mostly is to push activity, particularly on the weekends, and to make me “earn” my calories as best I can. Not to say I plan to eat back everything, but mostly to shift my mindset a bit, and to try a less regimented approach. Challenge Goals 15 min newspaper reading per day 20 min housework per weekday/1h housework per weekend day Stay on 500-1000 calorie deficit based on AW per day (7000 per week) Read 3 NF threads per day Out of bed by 5:30 weekdays/9am weekends In bed with devices off by 10:30 weekdays One variance per week for each. For the Calorie Deficit goal, maintenance is the ideal variance. Loot 150 Jaffa Defeated - New pair of shoes 75 Jaffa Defeated - New Apple Watch Band Less than 50 Jaffa Defeated - Miz has to clean the garage in one day! Tracking Instead of counting down this time around, Miz will be counting the Jaffa he defeats to escape from Bacchus’s Ha’tak!* Planning to start roughly tracking this week, with I hope you all will join me on this adventure through the Stargate! *He won’t be killing them because the Jaffa are an indoctrinated slave race and many do not know any better, and many yearn for freedom!