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To those who are following the storyline from my last challenge: Beware. Of. Major. Spoilers. Seriously, this whole challenge intro is a major spoiler for the storyline I have yet to conclude in the other challenge. You have been warned. TL;DR: Challenge goals Do everything from last time. sleep at 12amwake by 9am and get readydo "Convict Conditioning" bodyweight strength training Only this time, actually do it.Reward for doing it: uh… happy dance? Punishment for slacking: something awful, to be decided on. Probably push-ups. 25 burpees per session missed. I blame llw and Kishi. Take cold(er) showers. 'Cause damn, I'm being beaten by a 16-year old girl who isn't even actively trying to beat me. I will not go without a fight!Reward: happy dance…? Punishment: probably push-ups. 25 burpees per day missed. Record your progress in your journal. While much of my journey is documented here, more or less, I've severely neglected my own journal in the meantime.Reward: happy dance…? Punishment: probably more push-ups. 25 burpees per day missed. Why so much punishment? Why not embrace the positive side of life? Because this makes the stakes oh so much higher.

Life has held a lot of changes for me lately. Thankfully, I hope, most have been for the best. What I want for myself is to be a better person. I want to be stronger, smarter, more thoughtful, and more in control of my own life. Sometimes it is only too easy to say "tomorrow" but we shouldn't. Tomorrow isn't always an option. Today I turn to Rent, a fantastic musical, to embrace the theme for this challenge. This challenge I live in the moment and I work to make myself better right now. Get your tushy to the gym 3x a week With the new work schedule this is going to be MUCH harder than it used to be. In an ideal world I will still get p at 5:30am like I did at the old job but instead of leaving for work at 5:45 I will leave for the gym instead. Keep in mind, I am not a morning person and am pretty afraid to fail this one. Still, 3x a week at any time is better than nothing and again, a mix of weight training and running. Plus, at least 1 hour of Yoga a week. 18 total gym visits + 6 Yogas! Str +2, Dex +2, Sta +2. STOP EATING TAKEOUT, for serious, it makes you feel like poo This last week I haven't wanted to cook when I get home at 6:30. 6:30 pm is really late for me, so I've been picking up food. Plus, since I'm not cooking then I'm not taking leftovers for work, so I'm going out again at lunch. This must stop, my wallet and my tummy are both against this. So, cook at least 3 dinners a week. Preferably paleo dinners (but lets not get carried away here.) 18 total dinners! Cha +3 Develop your mind as much as your muscles I've always been the brainy/nerdy/not-athletic person. All you here on NF probably understand this. However lately I haven't been challenging my mind nearly as much. It is great to be able to do stuff physically that I never imagined but I can't just do that. I want to write about 30 different journal prompts through the course of the challenge to make myself think. 30 total journal entries! Wis +3 Muscles, mind, and money... In the past I have set goals to not transfer monies from savings and to not use my credit card. They carry over to this challenge but they don't really need to, NF challenges past have done their job and not using those and planning monies better has become second nature now. This time I want to not only be on the defensive, I want to be proactive. I owe lots of monies (student loans, grumble grumble) and I hate that. This challenge I will pay off at least $1,000 of debt! Seriously, I want to see the numbers on my loans shrink and I want to feel more in control of my life. $1,000 total! Con +3 Bonus - the Jitters goal Jitters the clown, a man I'm very lucky to call a friend, has inspired me to do a bonus goal of 6 random acts of kindness (RAKs) this round. We spend so much time working on and for ourselves during these challenges that I feel like maybe it will be good to focus on others a little bit. I'm not sure what these RAKs will be but I'm thrilled to do them and to give Jitters the opportunity to comment "Nice Rak". (We all know that it is coming). 6 RAKs total! I'm not awarding myself any points for this, because I feel like this is a reward in itself. However I am inserting the caveat that if I fail this goal, no matter how I do on the others, I get no points for any of the other goals. Thank you for all being here for this, you are so wonderful!

Elastigirl and Splitrift reminded me of the promise of fancy ninja skills and aiming for a rather simple/basic quest in difficult times to keep up the good work... so here I am, (almost) ready for my third challenge! Main quest! Stay sane and healthy during stressful times.(And possibly keep improving). So... In 3 weeks' time I'm starting a new job. As an English teacher. I've had quite a bit of practical training (so... teaching) during my studies, but now I'll officially be the only one responsible for about 12 groups of students. On top of that I'm still living with my in-laws because we can't find a place of our own (they're lovely people, by the way, but you know... ) AND my husband will be leaving for England September 1st - November as part of his studies. So I'll be by myself, in a new job (teaching is ranked among the 10 most stressful jobs there are), trying to stay sane and healthy while even aiming to improve? That sounds like a challenge to me! Well, guess I'll just have to accept the challenge, then. Goal 1: Journaling at least once a week. A way to stay sane for many it's also one of the tips given by almost every 'tips for new teachers' list. I don't want to overwhelm myself, but I want to record this journey and keep reflecting on my skills and progress. So I'll keep a journal at least once a week. Just sit down, write about what's happened and what I'd like to achieve next week. Possibly online, possibly on a separate blog or perhaps just in my thread. (I'll start next week when the challenge start to get into the habit and to think about how I want things to go while focussing on not wanting to be perfect but just do what I can). A = Wis + 2, Sta + 2 Goal 2: Stay active! Since starting running (which I gave up after I discovered BW exercises ) 1 1/2 years ago I've been pretty good at exercising 'about' 3 times a week (sometimes it's been two, but I've been pretty consistent, sometimes exercising up to 5 times a week). I haven't been this active before in my life (probably not even when I was a kid, although all the running around must have helped ). I want to keep it up. BW exercises, long walks, Stepmania, swimming... Anything goes, as long as I actually work out 3 times a week. A = Str + 2, Dex + 2, Sta + 1 Lifegoal: Actually get a folder together with activities I can use in class (and with reminders about my teaching philosophy). This was a goal last challenge - I got together some of my activities in a digital folder. I realised it would be a lot easier to look through an actual folder (as opposed to opening each file separately...) to look for a suitable activity. At the moment I'm thinking organised by category ("Get to know my students activities"/"Speaking/conversation activities"/"Grammar activities", "Quick games for when I need to fill a few minutes", "One or two full back up lessons in case something happens why the usual lesson can't happen"... things like that). A portable, not too big folder that I can actually bring with me to work if at all possible. Also a list about how I would like to teach and why teaching is important to me... to remind me of those things when I hate my job because the students are horrible and/or I just have a stupid day A = Wis + 3, Cha + 2 ------- Decided to get some stats after all . This challenge should be 'simple' (just do what I need to do) but I think it'll be a very important one for me! Now it's time to get excited about starting a new phase (and challenge) in my life. See you rebels around!

Hi everyone, I figured I'd join the druids for this challenge, as it seems to best fit my current goals. Main quest (that isn't really one at all): Live happily ever after So technically my quest was done before I ever stumbled across NerdFitness. For most of my life I've been very ill. My body just could not get itself together enough to do much at all. My muscles were weak, my coordination was off, my thinking was foggy. At points it got so bad that I was barely able to get out of bed. While the doctors were just shrugging their shoulders, I eventually managed to fix myself by going gluten free. So now I am nominally normal, quite healthy, and wondering what to do with it all. My old life and routines don't really fit anymore, and I am flailing around, not quite sure what to make of it all. Goal 1: Nourish the body During the last challenge I tracked my food intake, and realised that I am really averaging way too little. So I need to work on that, to fuel anything more than hang around in front of the computer. I have two nutrition targets: protein and calories. I am aiming for 78g of protein, and 1800 calories a day, using cronometer.com for tracking. Looking at the last few weeks, protein is occasionally achievable, calories less so. I'll use n+1 increases for this goal, and track calories and protein separately. So the goal for week one will be hitting my targets once a week, increasing by one for the next week if I am successful. If all goes well I'll be eating well 6 days a week by week 6. Goal 2: Relax During the last challenge I've also noticed that doing something word free is a good reset for my mind. This could be exercise, spinning, knitting or meditating. Just as long as it doesn't feed the constant flow of words from the outside world or the inside monkey brain. The goal will be at least one hour every day, part of which must be exercise. Goal 3: Reflect My mind likes to churn things over and over again, and if i even remember to write anything of it down, it ends up all over the place. I want to consolidate and make the actual writing down a habit. I got myself Day One a while ago, so I'll use that for journaling and consolidation of all my reflective writing. Again, the goals is to do this every day. Life quest: Finish the sekrit project of d00m Ahem, ok so this actually translates as 'finish shawl I started making for my friend'. What makes it a project of doom which has been languishing for a few years is that it's rather big and rather complex. If I manage to finish this it'll certainly be the most epic thing I have ever done. Goal (and I have no idea how realistic this is): complete all three corners and the lower edge of the shawl. Grading will be decided at the end of the challenge, based on lessons learned and stats most worked on. In lieu of pictures (as my goals aren't much appearance based), let's do 'a day in the life'. To set the scene: I live in a bedroom in a shared house. The countryside is in easy reach, but entirely under-utilised by me. There is a back yard, but it's all paved and not the nicest place to sit. In my room there is a rocking chair and table by the window, and a futon on the floor by the opposite wall, aka the nest. I tend to spend most of my day sitting there, with all my gadgets and works in progress spread around me. This was great for when I was ill and had no energy. It's a little too convenient when I am quite fit and well. There are some very full shelves around the room, filled with books, yarn and other miscellany. There are some boxes full of fibre, which don't really have anywhere good to go. Overall even the stuff that's where it should be looks quite cluttered. My day: I get up at 9 to feed the cats. If I've been awake before then, I'll have spent it flitting around the internet on my iPad. I make a cup of tea, and plonk myself straight back into my nest, for further internet surfing and tea drinking. An hour and another cup of tea later I start thinking about getting dressed and maybe some food. A quick glance in the fridge reveals nothing effortless and the idea is abandoned as I don't feel that hungry yet anyway. The rest of the day goes by in a blur, without much plan to it. Work shifts vary: lunch, afternoon or evening shift. Lunch and dinner are fitted around that, as are workouts. A lot of time wasted on the internet, with occasional bursts of reading, to do's or hobbies. Bedtime is between 10-11. All in all still very much the mindset of 'conserve your energy, you never know when you'll need it'. Planning ahead used to be impossible on account of my health, and the no plan, no effort routine reflects that. I've had to become very used to not pushing myself. Motivation: Never be in a position again where I am so ill I can't look after myself. (this sums up living healthy, as well as being self reliant and danger/injury prevention) Starting stats: 52.3kg ; 19.7% body fat.

I've been watching from the sidelines for years now and am finally ready to jump into the Game. A recent bout with Shingles and this general all over feeling of crapiness has made me realize that I need to make a change and get a grip on my life. Goals for this challenge are: 1) lose 8 pounds - current weight is 159.2 2) maintain daily food journal and cut out crap food (processed foods) 3) Exercise 4 times per week. Currently I am not exercising at all. 4) complete my taxes 5) practice my German at least 15 mins per day Jumping into the Game and getting serious - Coaches, trainers, team mates, cheerleaders welcome!