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aka "how the hell do we still have over 40 days of school left in this year?!?!?!" Okay, it's only 41. So sue me. But 40 is Biblical for "a really fucking long time" for a reason. Other things happening during this challenge: the end of my grad school semester is barely after this challenge ends (May 2nd) IVF transfer #2 is (hopefully) next week, pending tomorrow morning's test results. My son's kindergarten enrollment night is tomorrow but it's been kind of a big deal around the house because he is absolutely terrified of the transition to elementary school. The boy's soccer and baseball seasons are now officially in full swing, which means 3 practices and up to 4 games every week. My youngest niece will have her 1st birthday party, which is always a bit painful (you know, with the whole infertility thing) but should also be fun - her mom is one of my favorites, so that will help! At the changing of the month, we will be at my husband's curriculum meeting out of town (long story short, our state government is passing stupid laws so now government teachers across the state have to re-do their curriculum and he managed to get on the official committee to lead this which is both super awesome and slightly annoying). And the state camping season opens back up on April 1st so we are heading out for Good Friday-Easter Saturday, as has been our opening tradition for the last few years (though might die next year with a slightly-too-early Easter...we'll see!) Quests for this challenge! Quest One: Movement Dropping the yoga and running for purposes of the transfer, but I do have... 1. walk at least 91 miles total before the end of March 31st (the first check in for my year-long challenge) - I am currently at 79.2 miles 2. Continue the 1+ miles per day (kinda) by the end of the challenge with 29 more miles on/after April 1st I'd like to add a third one, but we'll see. I get really nervous around transfers (when high impact and/or twisting movements become No Good At All) and last time, the injection med made me stupidly angry - and not only am I still on it this go around, but I'm on a much higher dose of it, so...we'll see what I'm even mentally capable of by that point Quest Two: Nutrition I am under no delusions that I'm doing great here. 1. I've started increasing my caffeine consumption again (bad for my overall health and Super Bad for the transfer). This was partly due to exhaustion, partly due to hot coffee/cold soda being comfort items for me during a tough time, and partly because my husband cut down on his coffee consumption but is still making the same amount of coffee every day. To combat this, I am increasing my required daily water to ~24 ounces (3 mugs, more or less) and will be going on a hard caffeine limit after the transfer date. 2. When stressed, I also tend to turn to highly processed boxed food. Frozen garlic bread, pasta meals in bags (or just straight up boxed mac and cheese! I LOVE Annie's white cheddar shells...), lots of sugary cereals, pop-tarts and snack crackers like cheez-its...so my goal is that at least 3 times during this challenge, I will go an entire day without any of that. No boxes, bags, or other packages of highly processed stuff - ingredients that come in packaging are of course okay, like we eat a lot of canned beans for example. This will include non-homemade desserts like Easter candy though! Would like to think I can do this more than 3 days, but let's start low to be safe. Quest Three: Work/Languages Oh, my old friend. How I love and hate this quest. 1. keep up with the weekly department Instagram posts - I think I've said before that this really isn't a "proper" quest anymore, but I keep on forgetting about it when I delete it so here it is again! 2. Rock out in Reckley's class - I have a bunch of tareas and discussion boards left, 2 exams (one opening tomorrow!), 1 essay, and a final project. Currently working on tarea 4 where I am 7 questions deep (out of 17); I also really need to knock out discussion board 3 and 4 ASAP, preferably today/this week 3. Spanish 2 Unit 6 - Putting my curriculum stuff on here seems to also help me get it done, so...let's rock it out. The order of units are changing over the summer but for right now, it's unit 6 (the sports unit). Units 6 and 7 are also a bit shorter due to needing to cut about 8 days from the quarter for finals at the end of the semester, so that should help a little bit too 4. Write ER quizzes up to #45 - I got to #28 last challenge, but the books are getting more complex, so 45 feels like a good start. (Refresher note - these are comprehension quizzes for all the Spanish-language books in my personal classroom library to better support my extensive reading program next school year) 5. Maya Erikson y el misterio del laberinto - I'd love to say I'll finish this during this challenge, but that feels like A Lot. So let's just start with finishing chapter 4 and go from there. Currently on page 77 and chapter 5 starts on page 95, that should not be a huge deal at all (especially considering one of my top reading times is Wednesday night, so I'd love to come on here tomorrow and tell you all I already have to bump it up!) 6. Grading - I don't really have a specific goal here, honestly, because it fluctuates so flipping much, but Lord knows I just need to get on this and hopefully by putting it here, I will start plowing through it a bit better. Currently behind on 3rd and 6th hours the most. Quest Four: Home and Hobbies My other favorite quest to hate because I usually do terribly at it, hahaha. 1. log cabin quilt - I finally got the top (and back!) done during last challenge. I decided it's not worth the cost to send it to the longarmer, so I'm hand-tying the thing. This, however, takes forever and a year, especially given that I am tying it at only 1.5 inch intervals because I might not love the design but I want it to be super durable for camping purposes. Currently about 117 knots in and my goal for this challenge is going to be to get to 450 knots, which will be approximately 1/4 of the overall quilt. 2. dog toys - fix at least 2 of the dog toys 3. garden/yard - I bought some seeds already (for our herbs/annual flowers) but I still need to buy some sort of grass or clover seed and decide how I'm going to move a maple tree seedling...we need to finish cutting down two dead trees, so I want to keep it if I can to help replace those, and then figure out what else I'll find or buy to replace the other one. I also want to at least price out some simple fountains or maybe a bird bath instead? And maybe a garden statue, I really want one of Artemis but that's probably too specific for now given our very tight budget. And my hummingbird feeder broke over the winter too...depending on our weather, some of this might happen at the end of this challenge, but a good bit of it is really just preparations for May.

Erick the Red: No Zero Days I've done a few of these challenges over the past few years, and had some pretty good successes. Also failed more than a couple times. This round I am starting slow and simple. Two clear-cut daily goals to solidify daily habits. I plan to check in daily or near-daily to update my progress, and maybe go over some details. I appreciate feedback and positive peer-pressure. 1. Hike outside at least one mile per day. I am glad to have a job, but working from home has meant that I sometimes go two or three days without stepping out my front door. I plan to throw on my weighted vest or a backpack with a ruck plate about three times per week. 2. Complete at least one page in my Latin language textbook. My COVID lock-down hobby has been learning Latin. The textbook I have is called "Lingua Latina Per Se Illustrata", which is great, but I get distracted easily with other Latin language resources. I need to focus more on making steady progress on formal training. My other resources are free apps like Duolingo or Xochi, Latin Language Youtube channels including Magister Craft and Luke Ranieri's Scorpio Martianus, and a series of fun novellas by Lance Piantaginni. In both cases I am working towards bigger long-term goals, but for now I need to establish a foundation.

So, I'm going to Stockholm for the first week of March, and I need to learn the entirety of Swedish. No new exercise programs here! INT is stat of the month. The challenge is to complete a skill on Duolingo every day. If any of you folks are on Duolingo, please let me know and I will connect with you there. Status report: STR * there is a group of people at work who meets at 3 pm every day to do a 15-minute bodyweight circuit, which is pretty difficult, not gonna lie. I try to join them every day, unless I have meetings scheduled at that time CON * the weather is shady, but I'm going on at least one run per week. If the snow lets up, I'd love to start biking to work again DEX * I'd like to do a daily 5-minute stretch INT* * learning Swedish, keeping up on my French WIS * at least 10 mins meditation/day, aiming at 30 mins CHA * having watched the new Queer Eye on Netflix, I am inspired to uplift my daily wardrobe Monk stuff: aikido 2x/week, kyudo 1x/week, tai chi ... occasionally.

Good evening, bonsoir, and nos da, warrior pals! I'm still on the planet, just not right now so much on the internet. These last few weeks, I've been a wee bit hard on myself. See, the thing is, well, I joined Nerd Fitness and found the forums and the challenges and the Academy and the Facebook group and I got MOTIVATED. Like, really really really motivated. "Gemma, you say that like it's a bad thing. Is motivation bad?" "Why no, InnerVoice, of course not. Motivation is a very good thing. But it must be tempered by wisdom. Motivation accompanied by foolishness leads to burnout and insanity. And not necessarily the fun sexy movie kind of insanity." Of course, I had my challenge goals from last challenge, which BTW I did NOT do especially well on (except I did eat a LOT of protein, so yay protein.) But then - MOTO!!! - on top of that, I piled on: Re-booting my previous language-learning efforts. Aside: Huzzah for Duolingo, which I only found *because* of Nerd Fitness and which just might be my new favorite thing ever! Except on top of trying to Duolingo both French and Welsh every day, I had to go overboard and download a million podcasts of Coffee Break French and watch dozens of Welsh pronunciation tutorial YouTube videos and listen to only French and Welsh folk music and basically try to achieve fluency in both in a matter of weeks because I'M SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS! I'm super excited about trying to be truly multi-lingual, but I need to get my head around the idea of maybe not this week. Aside: I was already quasi-competent in tourist French, a complete newbie to Welsh. And oh by the way trying to uplevel as fast as possible from marksman through sharpshooter to distinguished expert in the marksmanship challenge that I'm working on. And learning how to bullet journal (great habit, but super easy to get reallyreallyreally carried away with if you look into the hypnogourd of über fancy BuJomess all over Instagram and Pinterest and the evil book of faces.) And (related to BuJo) suddenly randomly remembering that I used to love to draw and haven't in a long time, so now trying to add in some sketching time every day . And suddenly randomly deciding that I want to re-learn how to contact juggle, right NOW, so trying to throw in 10-15 minutes of that practice every day. Oh, yeah, and, just for bonus point funsies - yesterday marked the end of one of the semi-annual ballbuster major inspections at my place of gainful employment, in the course of which I was publicly reprimanded for inappropriate use of common sense. These things happen twice a year, I've had this job for nine years, you'd think I wouldn't get stressed out about the stupid inspections anymore. But no. That's not how I roll. Insomnia and indigestion and irritability, oh my. So I have officially decided that this challenge has no power over me. Just maintain. Just keep doing the things that are valuable. Let go of the ones that aren't. continue my Duolingo streak, daily practice of both languages continue to BuJo, but it does not have to be fancy. Doodles and washi tape and motivational quotes and perfect handlettered headings and ... whatever ... are fine. If I have time to kill. If not, just write down the bullets and get on with my life. continue going to the Starting Strength gym and doing exactly what my coach says, but don't get too caught up in lifting a specific # of pounds on a specific lift by a specific date. Trust the coach, trust the process, what is my big hurry anyway? I'm not a competitive strengthlifter, I'm just a middle-aged woman trying not to end up in premature assisted living. I don't need to get super-strong super-fast, I just need to keep getting stronger at a reasonable pace as the preferable alternative to getting weaker. That's enough. I'm not adding more. I'm liable to hurt myself if I add more. Mental health is a good thing, I ought not squander it. I will get back on that juggling thing LATER, when I have a little more bandwidth. Because it is kind of the coolest thing in the world to be able to do, and I can kind of do it, but I'm not great at it and I really want to be great at it. Really. But not right now. Later. Maybe after Welsh. So, yeah, just that. I'll try to check in here more consistently. I miss you powernerds!

Fairly straightforward this time, journal the shit out of the feels while I start an SSRI. No, not subject you people to the journaling, this isn't xanga for christ's sake. But I'll try the fugging check boxes that I've always judged you for, and also whine about my last full training cycle before peaking for a comp. □ Reading □ Journaling □ Meditation □ Puppy Training □ Language □ Physical Therapy

Hello! I wanted to create a thread for anyone learning Japanese to post about learning methods, grammar and vocab questions, and writing practice. Of course, responses to grammar and vocab questions by any helpful rebels out there who are native or fluent speakers would be greatly appreciated. To start us off, I am very interested in the learning methods of other language learners (feel free to post methods you've used studying other languages as well): what has worked, what hasn't worked, what ideas do you have to try out in the future, etc. My response: I am near fluent in Spanish, but that was accomplished through study abroad and now through conversing with my boyfriend and his family in Spanish. I don't have the ability to drop everything and move to Japan for 6 months now, so there's not too much here I can apply to my Japanese learning efforts. My sister is currently studying in Nagasaki (she's on her 4th year there), so, once I get to the point where I can hold a conversation, I can try to Skype with her in Japanese. But I need to get to that point first! I've tried using text books and My Japanese Coach for the Nintendo DS, but I would always get busy, drop it for a few months, and then have to start over from scratch. I discovered the Pimsleur Language Program last November at my local public library (yay, free!), so I've been working my way through that during my 30+ minute commute to and from work. It's great because I don't need to work time into my schedule to do it - I'm spending that time in my car no matter what! However, I'm starting on level III, which I believe is the final segment of the program. I'm not sure what I'm going to do next, hence my initiating this thread .

Hello my friends! Yasha’s back again with the second challenge of the year. I had great succusses last challenge and hope to keep that momentum rolling through this challenge, dsepite (because of?) having a lot on my plate in terms of commitments. Learn all the things! I started back at the Master of Business on Wednesday of zero week and will be continuing through with it until the 28th of April. I have also signed up for a Diploma in Languages starting on the 27th February to learn Mandarin Chinese. I will dedicate myself to AT LEAST 2hrs study per week in addition to face-to-face class time. I want to maintain my distinction average and be fluent in the second language asap. Get in my head, language! http://www.theworldofchinese.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Keoni_headbang.gif Eat all the things! (or rather, don’t eat all the things). 5 days Paleo (plus potato), 2 days variance available (but not required!). After all the dramatic difference from doing whole30 last challenge (which is honestly just Paleo plus the occasional white potato) I’m keen to keep it up this challenge as well. Mr and I really missed going out on our dates though, so we’ll be strongly Paleo(pp) for 5days a week (likely the M-F workweek, but flexible enough that if someone wants to go for drinks on a weeknight we can do the shuffle), then have the option for 2days a week variance, this could be a meal, a drink or the whole day (but try not to go too crazy). http://horriblehousewife.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Paleo-party-food-idea-rainbow-fruit-bowls-1024x599.jpg Exercise all the days! Keep up with the Monday-Thursday morning gym classes plus hit 10,000 steps/bike ride/mountain climbing on the other days. If I do both classes on Monday morning I have the option to sub-out a day where I don’t hit the 10,000 steps. https://media.giphy.com/media/Dsu5cqUg327w4/giphy.gif Tick all the boxes! Mr loved it when I was doing the daily list and he has requested its return twice, I will do up a list and add the photo of it tonight after class. I’m expecting similar type daily tasks (water the plants, teeth and face care, a little cleaning, take vitamins) and will definitely be bringing back the affirmation because I AM a badass ranger of awesomeness, I just need to remind myself of that sometimes. https://d13yacurqjgara.cloudfront.net/users/555872/screenshots/2182807/check.gif

Gentlemen! Willkommen im NF Deutsch Club! Die erste Regel des NF Deutsch Club lautet: Ihr verliert kein Englisch Wort über den NF Deutsch Club!

Hi Rangers! After a month off, I'm back and ready to get stuff done. I'm focusing on 3 things this challenge: Core, and mobility from my hips to my shoulders. 2000 sit-ups by the end of the challenge. That's 500/wk, or 100/day for 5 days/wk. GHD's count as double! 8-minute Abs must be subb'd at least 1 day/wk NO BINGES for the next few weeks! I have dealt with disordered eating, and it's sort of like having been an addict. You always have to be on your guard for relapses. I've gotten tons better in the past several years, and my bf has helped so much with with me giving permission to eat and also questions me when I know I'm at risk. Work on my French. I'm going to do something every day. My bf's little sister and I were doing once-a-week French practice, and putting together projects for that in conjunction with Coffee Break French was excellent. She starts school in a few weeks, but at least we'll have a little time to practice together! Finally, I need to stay on track, and one of the best ways of doing that is to stay plugged in. 5 posts in my own thread, 5 posts in someone else's thread every week. Best of luck to everyone in their challenge! May the Force be with you!

For the first time in 3-4 years, I will not be taking a class this semester, so my schedule just blew wide open. Typically, it takes about 2-3 days for me to get confused by free time, and start whining about how bored I am despite a plethora of things to do, forsaken responsibilities, and stuff I've said I want to get done "when I have time." The next few challenges will focus on giving me things I HAVE to do, so I don't come to the end of my break and have nothing to show for it. Goals to complete this challenge (all are pass/fail): Make at least one wearable skirt: Kilted or gathered, it must be completely wearable. Restructure my weights workout (see life goal): Figure out which steps of the life goal to work on first and add or sub them to my workout. Done! Install a border along the fence: Every time I water the back garden, it just rolls off into next door's yard. I got a border to fix that, it just needs placed. Find and schedule a Russian tutor: Duolingo is great, but with no other classes, I can ramp this up. Research and schedule at least the first meeting. Prepare for our trip and go on it: My gentleman and I are going on our first ever vacation to London and Ireland, leaving September 11. I have a lengthy list of things to do to prep for it. They must all be done, and not the night before we leave. Long-term goals to complete before next class: Measure the back porch/stairs and make plans to close it in: My fruit trees/bushes need a place to winter over. Create a plan for the strawberry bed in the big garden: I am not happy with the current layout; would like to add tiers, stepping stones, and ground cover to prevent weeds. Make at least three wearable skirts: I WANT KILTS!!!! Measurable life goal: I finally found out what the below move is called, and have made it my goal to be able to do a pike to handstand or press handstand. I recognize that I have a lot of work to do to get here, but I have a goal! There are lots of helpful sites out there with tips on what to work on and how, and my first step is to sort through them and come up with a working plan (see current goal #2). Allowing for a lot of mistakes, I hope to do this by the time I'm 40 (3.5 years). Rewards: 80% done: I can order 1 new fruit tree for spring 2017. 100% done: I can order 3 new fruit trees or 2 trees and another berry bush. (Yes, my goal is to have a dwarf orchard). I realize that I am often super ambitious and schedule way too much to do, but since I still seemed to get lots of stuff done while I was taking classes and working.... I'm going to go for it. Failing all else, it will give me a better idea of how much I can accomplish for the next challenge. As per usual, my running and weights workouts, healthy eating goals, and parkour classes will be going on in the background. Ok, enough talking, here's my life goal:

Hello everyone! My name is Sora, and I'll be joining the Rangers this time around if you'll have me (previously a scout). The last challenge was my first in a very long time; I rejoined after a long hiatus, and semi-successfully completed my challenge with the scouts. I'm hoping to join the Rangers as I begin to explore different types of workouts. I have historically been a distance runner (cross country and track team in middle and high school). In about a month, I'll be a Freshman at the University of Michigan, and I'm hoping to try out something new. For this challenge, I want to explore different types of workouts and begin to find something I might like to do in the future. For this challenge, I will be centering around a theme from the Anime "Magi: Adventure of Sinbad" which recently finished airing. I'm currently studying abroad in Japan until August 12, so I appreciate the idea of adventure. Goal 1: Workout! Workout 5 days a week, including some mix of running and non-running exercises. One of the main ideas behind what I am trying to accomplish is based in working out. Like Sinbad, I want to try to live like other people do and experience different ways of life. Through this, I hope to find the best fit for me. I will continue running as it's what I know I am capable of. Otherwise, I will try to find new workouts to incorporate. I don't have access to a gym or anything, so body weight workouts will probably be in store. If you have any ideas for what I should try out, please let me know! Goal 2: Try Paleo! Have 6 paleo meals a week (try new recipes or make good choices out). I am currently living on my own and cooking for myself, so I would like to try to learn some new recipes and eat in a new way. I like the philosophy behind paleo, and I've wanted to give it a go for a while. This will be a little difficult due to being in a small apartment in Japan (limited kitchen and living in a country that eats a lot of rice). However, I will give it my best shot! Let me know if there is a recipe I must try! Goal 3: Smile! Brush teeth every morning and night (bonus points for mid day). Smile more. Over the past year I've become less consistent with my oral hygiene due to a wacky schedule. It's time for this to stop. Sinbad is known for his charm, and a big part of that comes from his smile, so I want to have a smile that I am confident in! Life Goal: Study the world around you! Study Japanese 7 days a week (at least 5 days of two hours a day [consisting of grammar, vocabulary, and kanji], and another 2 days of review and practice). I am in Japan, after all, so it's about time I become better at studying Japanese. I've taken a few years of classes, but I have a lot of review that I need to do. In the last challenge I improved, but now it's really time to step it up. Part of Sinbad's travels is him learning about new places and other ways of life, so what better way to do this? Overall Goal: Look Good Naked I'm hoping to cosplay Sinbad at Youmacon (the first week of November). In order to do this character justice, I want to improve my overall figure and become more confident in my appearance. Rather than having a goal like "lose X amount of weight/bf/etc", I'm simply trying to make habits that will result in that on their own. I don't want to worry about the numbers, only the work. I will have this as my overall goal for the next few challenges leading up to November! Thanks for having me, Rangers! I look forward to working among you.

Hi there! I want to purchase a list of self improvement books. But I am German. So my question is - do I purchase them in english or german? Generally I think it is easy to read in English, all of the blogs/texts I read are in English. Another thing is that reading about these topics in my native language feels weird. Maybe because I am used to read these kind of texts in English. My problem is that I am afraid that the books will be too difficult to read (for me at this point). I would not want to touch 9 books of Platon or Descartes at the moment Are these books very difficult to read (compared to Nerdfitness, I don't even think that the site is in English I just read it - same with "Level up your life book")? Have you read them as a not native English reader? 1. Rich Dad Poor Dad: http://amzn.to/1VLAklY 2. The 4-Hour Workweek: http://amzn.to/1Qn5DA5 3. How to Win Friends and Influence People: http://amzn.to/1VLAoCe 4. The 48 Laws of Power: http://amzn.to/1VLAoSK 5. The Way of the Superior Man: http://amzn.to/1Qn5EDZ 6. Man's Search for Meaning: http://amzn.to/1Qn5GM0 7. Mastery: http://amzn.to/1VLArOu 8. Mindfulness for Beginners: http://amzn.to/1VLAs4S 9. The Obstacle is the Way: http://amzn.to/1VLAslw (The List comes from This Youtube Channel about self improvement & books, It is possible that it is an affiliate link so he will earn some money for purchasing them by this link) My thoughts at the moment are; Purchase book number 3, 5 and 7 and see how it turns out. But if you think on of this books is very difficult, please let me know! Thanks in advance

A house sits in the middle of the Rocky Mountains, far away from the prying gaze of civilisation.... Agent 78, pulls up to the house - no, glorified log cabin - and waits. Her eyes track automatically, out the windscreen to the house, the rear-view mirror, the gun case in the back seat, and repeat. The door opens, and her eyes snap to it, watching as a bald man in a black wool overcoat walks slowly through the door and onto the small front porch. He doesn't say anything, nor does 78 expect him to, simply nods once. She nods in return, then opens her car door and steps out, boots crunching through the snowpack a few inches before holding her weight. "You're late," 47 says. "I was held up." 78 holds her head up high. No need to inform 47 of the other agents she'd lost at the Jackson Hole airport two days ago. "Are you ready?" "Diana didn't send me." Another person would have thought the conversation odd, held from fifty feet apart, speaking in conversational tones, the simple questions and answers carrying only the first level of meaning. Are you ready? To fight me? To try and killed me? Don't forget, 78, many have tried, all have failed. Diana didn't send me. I'm not here to kill you. I'm not working for the organisation any more. 78 raised her hands slowly, watching 47 watch her movements as she removed her own black overcoat and blazer, revealing the lack of holster beneath. She turned slowly on the spot, meeting 47's eyes once again as she took the final step. "Why?" Do you have a death wish, 78? "I met 90." This was it, the dangerous statement. I met your sister. I met her, she told me who she was and where you were. And I came, unarmed. Don't kill me. 78 registered the movement, but stayed perfectly still as the silver 9mm levelled at her forehead. "Katya?" The tone was different now. Where 47's voice had been almost robotic, it now almost held a note of concern. 78's mouth twisted in a half-smile. "Your sister is fine, 47." She kept perfectly still, the wind starting to bite through her white button-down. "She sent me." "Why?" The muzzle of the gun remained trained on 78's head. "Why kill for Diana?" Why kill for her when she's trying to kill you? And Katya? When you saved my life? 47 waited five seconds, then ten. Then he lowered his weapon. "Come in." He turned and 78 followed, boots crunching through the snow. 47 didn't turn, but his voice still carried. "Bring your weapons." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Challenge: Mission 1: Work out (10 xp) Run every day and work out three times a week, barring injury or sickness. Mission 2: Hydrate (15 xp) Drink at least 2L of water a day. You are allowed two mistakes. Mission 3: Meditate (15 xp) Meditate 10 minutes a day. Start the practice by using the Headspace app. Mission 4: Languages (10 xp) Practice both French and German every day using Duolingo.

Main Quest To live a healthy and balanced life by exercising and trying to eat healthy. My motivation I've successfully dropped weight by counting calories so my diet will mostly be staying the same with 1200 calories per day M-F and then blow meals on the weekends. I've managed to put on some muscle in an effort to become stronger by weightlifting and I’ve discovered that I love lifting heavy things! In about a month, my husband and I are going on one of my bucket-list vacations: Scotland and Wales! We’re spending two glorious weeks exploring the highlands and Edinburgh in Scotland and the castles of northern Wales. I’m so excited!!! My last challenge was Welsh-focused so this one will be properly Scottish-themed! Smaller Quests 1. Walking Walking in my last challenge was a success, but I want to push myself to do more to be in the absolute best walking shape I can be since walking up and down the hills in Edinburgh and across mountains in Wales will require lots of endurance. My easy/slightly sweaty pace seems to be about 3 miles per hour. Scoring: x/35 miles in 4 weeks (about 8.5 miles per week) Reward: +2 STA & +3 DEX 2. Weights No matter what else I do in my challenges here, I still always come back to lifting the heavy things. I like it, it makes me feel better about myself and it’s got practical, real-world purposes. Last challenge, I focused on upping the weights. For this challenge, I want to lighten the load and focus primarily on using the proper form. For example, I know I can sling 25lbs barbells in curls, but my form is bad. This needs to change. I also want to go back to some of the classics like deadlift and ‘real’ squats. I'm guessing on some of these numbers so I may need to re-adjust after my first weightlifting session. Scoring: x/4 (1 for each weight achieved) Barbell Curls: 15lbs → 25lbs Squat Bar: 50lbs → 65lbs Rows: 30lbs → 40lbs Deadlift: 65lbs → 80lbs Reward: +3 STR & +2 CON 3. Scots-Gaelic Learning Welsh on Duolingo was fun, but I also want to practice Scots-Gaelic from a disc I have. I want to learn enough to be able to communicate in a simple conversation with the locals, if I can. I intend to practice it every week day during the four weeks of this challenge. Depending on how long the disc is, I may supplement with Welsh if I run out of Scots-Gaelic. Scots-Gaelic Scoring: x/9 Reward: +2 CHA Welsh Scoring: x/15 Reward: +3 WIS

Hey NF friends! I'm always looking for ways to improve my language skills and I'm sure many of you do as well So I'm making this post to list the users who are interested on language exchange. Side note: if you know english on a fluent level and want to practice spoken spanish, PM me with your skype user! I want to improve my english. Última actualización: 2 de febrero. (Last updated: february 2, start learning your spanish ) User - native language - learning language - ways to comunicate - PM User aalex - Polish, English (fluent) - German, Russian - Skype, Whatsapp, Email - PM aalex AlexTerepov - Russian (native) - English (beginner) looking for someone who knows English. - Email / Skype / Facebook / Hangouts - PM AlexTerepow Amren - Dutch - English (fluent), Swedish, German (advanced/fluent), Mandarin (beginner), Gaeilge/Irish (beginner) - PM (then later on maybe FB or skype or whatever else ) - PM Amren AMURA – English (fluent) – French (basic) – PM, email - PM AMURA bananasheena - English (native), Mandarin (fluent), Malay (intermediate), Japanese (rusty in spoken language, but can read/understand/listen), Korean (very rusty, but can read/understand/listen) - PM / email PM bananasheena Barmacral - English (Fluent) - Swedish (Beginner) - PM, Email, Skype, Facebook, Hangouts - PM Barmacral Bassman123 - English - German/French if possible to start with very basic knowledge - Email/PM - PM Bassman123 Bekah -English (fluent) - Spanish (beginner, think end of Spanish 1 but suuuuuck at conjugation) - German (want to learn-can count to 10 and say 2-3 phrases) - PM, email, Facebook, IMessage, Skype (not my favorite but will do) - PM Bekah Bikriki - German - Spanish (beginner) - PM Bikriki Ch3 - Spanish - English (intermediatet), Portuguese, French, Polish (basic) - Skype. - PM CH3 Chris2Brooks - Can help with: Afrikaans (Native)/ English (Native/ Fluent?) - Learning: Spanish (Newbie) - PM/ EMAIL/ DUOLINGO: Chris2Brooks/ Twitter: Chris2Brooks - PM Chris2Brooks fleaball - English (native), French (advanced but rusty), Spanish (intermediate), Arabic (SUPER rusty ), German (beginner). - PM/Skype/email/Facebook/basically anything - PM Fleaball Hurley8604 - English - Swedish (beginner) - PM, email, Facebook - PM Hurley8604 Kaelvan - English (fluent), German (beginner), Spanish (somewhat of beginner), Esperanto (noob, but not hard language to pick up), Italian (beginner), French (beginner), Portuguese (noob) - PM/email/Duolingo/Lernu - PM Kaelvan Kareesh - English (fluent) - Japanese (super new beginner) - PM, Skype - PM Kareesh laodamaren - Flemish/dutch - English, french(oth fluent), german, latin, learning russian & italian - PM, Skype , facebook - PM laodamaren Lord Helix. Bulgarian (Native), English (fluent), French (Intermediate) looking for someone who knows French PM, Skype, Facebook. - PM LordHelix Machete - Tagalog (boss), English (fluent), Spanish (beginner) - PM Machete Madam_Patella - English - Spanish (beginner) - PM Madam Patella MaidofRus- English (fluent), Russian (lower intermediate) - PM MaidoRus Munroalx - English (fluent) - Norwegian (beginner) - PM, email - PM Munroalx QwertyCookie - English-Native, Irish (Gaeilge)- Advanced (a bit rusty maybe xD), French- Intermediate, Japanese - PM/Email - PM QuertyCookie starsapart - English (fluent), Russian (fluent), French (fluent), Japanese (verrrrrrrrrrrrry rusty, call me a beginner who reads well), Italian (beginner) - PM starsapart Svella - portuguese (fluent) - english (almost fluent), french (super noob) and japanese (super noob too). - PM, skype, facebook. - PM Svella SymphonicDan - English(british) - French, Spanish - Skype - PM SymphonicDan our.lady.of.ashes - English (Fluent) - French (beginner) - German (beginner) - Japanese (beginner) - PM our.lady.of.ashes Tkal - Venetian (native) Italian (native) - English (fluent), Dutch (intermediate), Spanish (beginner) - PM, Email - PM Tkal If you want to be listed here, leave a comment with your native language, the languages you're learning and your favorite way to comunicate. I'll add the link to your profile and the direct link to PM you.

. Ready for the next challenge to start tomorrow. The theme this time is one of my personal heroes: Eminem. The dude is super inspiring to be because he succeeded in an arena he shouldn't have, but he decided that is what he wanted so he made it happen. While he isn't necessarily a good person or a grade A role model, I love how he had a vision of his future and gave everything he had to make it come true. . I recently finished reading Steve's Level Up Your Life book, and absolutely loved it. I have gone ahead and written down everything. So these next several challenges will have several of the same aspects simply because they are some of my long quests. That being said, I will have a few more then normal quests on this page, because several of them will be to do one thing once a week, and that could get boring. So without further delay: Quest 1: Write a blog post once a week for More Than Survival . One of the quests I gave myself was to blog once a week for six months. I recently started a blog called More Than Survival. It is sort of my version of NF, but through my experience. It is directed towards people who are currently depressed with where they are in life and want to reengineer their brains for a better life. I am currently on blog three, and am just going through the basic steps of how to start the reengineering process. It would be super awesome if you guys checked it out and gave me feed back on what you think about it. The link is in my signature. I realize I am not the best writer, but I also feel like I have knowledge that could be useful to others so I am going to try. (Completion: 50xp) Attr: +1 Wis; +2 Cha Quest 2: Practice parkour once a week. . Another challenge I gave myself was to train in parkour once a week for six months. I finally found the group in my area that does it and they have agreed to train me. Unfortunately, most of them will graduate in May, so I have a lot to learn in the short time span, so I can train what I know after that. I love the idea of moving my body and vaulting obstacles so I am excited about this challenge. (Completion: 50xp) Attr: +2 Str; +2 End Quest 3: Speak Spanish in a Spanish speaking country . I took a Spanish course when I was sixteen or so, but never used it. Well now I am set up to work in a Spanish speaking country for the summer, and while I am told they all speak English, I don't want to be that asshole tourist type who doesn't even attempt to learn, particularly since I will be there for three months. So the current goal is to use Duolingo five times a week until I complete that and then moving a book I have heard about. I normally would say every day, but I realize that is unrealistic. So while I will try to do it every day, I will not penalize myself for missing two a week. (Completion: 50xp) Attr: +2 Wis Quest 4: Study for five hours a day . I am currently in my sophomore year of Chemical Engineering, and the classes are starting to pick up in intensity. So far I have been able to slide by on minimal work, but that needs to come to an end. I know I can be making better grades, I just don't put the time into it. So my goal is to study for five hours every day. I will try different time patterns and motivations, but at the end, I want to make my studies a priority Attr: +3 Wis Quest 5: Bench 200 lbs./ Deadlift 300 lbs. . The final long term goal I am currently working on is to be able to bench and deadlift those amounts. I currently can bench 105lbs. and deadlift 135lbs. Those are not maxing out, but just the weights I am comfortable with doing a 5x5. The goal is to go to the gym three times a week, going through the Stronglifts 5x5 program. Attr: +3 Str As he says in his song: "Success is my only option, failure's not." Let's do this!

Hey All! Whew, these 4-week challenges move fast, huh? My Health goals will be very similar to my last challenge, with just a few tweaks integrating things that I learned last challenge. On the life side of things, I'll be tackling two items on my Epic Quest list. Diet and Exercise: Stick with what works: Bodyweight Circuit 2-3x/week. Full Paleo Diet + don’t buy any fruit, nuts, dairy. Mobility: Squat Yoga: Daily Squat Yoga from Nerdfitness Yoga. Shoulder Yoga is an optional addition if I have time, but I’m only holding myself to daily Squat Yoga. Sleep: Aim to get consistent sleep (Continuation from last challenge Aim for 10:30 bedtime on weeknights. 11: 00 bedtime on Weekends If events keep me up later than 11 bedtime on weekends, I won't sleep past 8:30 AM. I think that sleeping in kills my circadian rhythm as much or more than actually staying up late. Life: 2 Epic Quests: Now I’m really excited about this stuff. While reading Steve’s book, I got a pretty good idea of what I want to focus on learning/doing this year and broke those things down into questlines. For this challenge, I’ll be tackling two questlines, since together they only take about half an hour from each day. French Questline. The ultimate goal here is to become fluent in French. The boss fight in this questline is to travel to a French-Speaking country and spend a day speaking only in French. This is something I want to do for its own sake, but it will also be an invaluable skill when I apply to the Peace Corps - especially if I end up somewhere in Africa like I want. I’m a long way off from tackling the boss. I’ll focus on the Level One Quest for now.Listen to a French-Learning Podcast every day for a Month. The podcast format is perfect for me, because I can practice in the car in my ride to work. Level One French Quest Reward: Make an iTalki account and sign up for some weekly lessons. To qualify, I must miss no more than 4 days over the course of this challenge barring extraordinary circumstances. Writing Questline. This one is a bit of an experiment. I don’t know where this will take me. I’ve always kind of wanted to write and had a dream of someday writing an adventure novel, but never took much action or did much writing outside of school. I only have a Level-1 Quest figured out for this so far. 15 minutes of free-writing each day for a Month. I don’t know how one gets better at writing other than to just, well, write. If anyone knows of any resources or books to read on story-writing, I’d welcome your advice! Dailies: Squat Yoga French Podcast 15-Min free-write: Bed Diet Weeklies: 2-3 Bodyweight Workouts

Howdy there, I know I am a few days late, but I haven't been on the boards since the beginning of Jan. I have done one challenge before and attempted my second, but gave up after day two. So the purpose of this challenge is to make the habits. I finally read Level Up Your Life, and the part about not using motivation really hit me. So we are going to try smaller things this time. I have also been watching Red Bull videos and just gotten super inspired to do more with my life then I thought. I realized I had those dreams and simply decided that they were ridiculous and unachievable. I guess I finally decided I would rather spend my life chasing the dream then sitting around dreaming up more. I am starting a journal of every dream I want to do. Not sure whether I am going to post them or keep them to myself. So a little bit of background: I am 20, currently attending college for engineering. I rock climb, adventure, and just all around explore. I am a skinny-fat dude, weighting 168, but only able to bench 105lb. I am currently working on bulking up with my roommate who is helping me at the gym. Not sure what else to write. I'm pretty ambivalent in life towards other people which presents a whole slew of problems, but one the main ones is that I think no one cares about what I have to say, because well, I tend not to care. It has it's benefits, but makes for a fairly solitary life style, which is okay and not at the same time. I love music. I have been teaching myself lead guitar for three years and have been playing piano for thirteen years. I would love to pick up the cello, but just haven't gotten around to it yet. I want to do a theme for my challenge, as it will relate to one of my challenges. So the theme is the space industry, as that is where I want to work when I graduate. The goal is to build a space company and a shuttle from the ground up. This is going to require public relations and building a team, learning the technical jargon, as well as dedicating time to the calculations. The final challenge will be to construct the shuttle. Break Down: Public Relations and Build a team: Like I mentioned before, I am pretty ambivalent. It pretty much means I have almost no close friends as I just drift around. Once the next group or person starts to bore me, I just move on again. Makes relationships difficult as well. So my challenge here is to be more social and engaged. To help keep me in the challenge, I need to post on other people's threads. I will follow at least three other challenges, and post in there at least once a week. I know I need to do this in real life, but I am starting small. The goal is to eventually build a team like Level Up Your Life talks about. I just need to hunt those people down, because all my friends right now dream to small for me. ATTR: ​+4 CHA Learning the technical jargon: I have found a job down in the Caribbean for the summer. While everyone on the island knows at least some English, I would like to be able to talk to people in Spanish. I started Duolingo this afternoon and really enjoyed. The goal is to be able to have a full conversation once I am on the island. I will spend roughly fifteen minutes every day on Duolingo. I have had a Spanish class before, so it is not completely foreign, I am just not proficient. Time to change that. ATTR: +3 WIS Dedicating time to calculations: Like I mentioned above, I am a college student and the classes this semester are intense. I want to dedicate at least 35 hours a week to diligent studying. ATTR: +4 WIS Construct the shuttle: Since I am going to be on an Island for the summer, a lot of my time will be spent without a shirt and I want to look better. Currently, me and my roommate are following a workout routine that is MWF. It's a moderate workout, but can be made harder by upping the weight. This is really only my second week on this, but I have already lost six lbs. and upped my weights by 5 lbs. ATTR: +4 STR TL;DR Post on at least three other people's threads at least once a week ATTR: +4 CHA Spend fifteen minutes on Duolingo everyday. ATTR: +3 WIS Spend 35 hours a week studying for classes. ATTR: +4 WIS Continue going to the gym MWF with roommate. ATTR: +4 STR

I've been working on leveling up for a few years now - travel, running, better discipline for my business - but Level Up Your Life reminded me to apply leveling up to more areas, and to have more fun with it. I've always been a huge bookworm (and movie fan), and so it was natural to put together my quests around all the characters I want to be: Daniel-san (a wimp who got strong + mad skillz), Tony Stark and Pepper Potts (two sides of the same coin: mad scientist and businesswoman), Nathan Rahl (wise in lore), and a lot more. Thinking this way, and setting milestones and goals, has really helped me get it together. Right now I'm on my second four week challenge (but this is the first time I've posted here about it): Physical 30-45 minute workouts three times a week limit myself to 1 mile runs (I'm in my final weeks recovering from a hamstring injury) Food eat 100g protein, and 3 veg, per day limit myself to 3 servings of carbs / day (yes, that's an improvement) Languag Study Irish 10 minutes a day, 3 days a week So....hi. And, now what?

‘Agent Fox, it’s time for you to get back on the field’, Boss B says, and Fox can’t help letting out a small gasp. Finally! Action! Adventures! ‘What’s the mission about?’ Fox asks eagerly. ‘Pants.’ ‘Uh… Pants?’ ‘Yes, Fox, your mission is about collecting pants. The Bootylicious Museum of Great Butt-ain has recently been robbed. They lost their most valuable workout pants that were worn by the most victorious Squat Master of the nation, Emerald ‘Iron Glutes’ Jones.’ Fox looks at her boss suspiciously. She has trouble finding her own pants in the morning from the mess that’s her room – and now Boss B wants her to find pants? ‘Our intelligence believes that the pants are located in the town of Lilla Rumpa. The thief is a pants collector called Samantha Snakes. We believe she’s going to sell the pants, and is currently looking for a potential buyer. Your mission is to observe her, learn about her contacts, and find out where the pants are before she sells them. Once you learn the location, you are to report back to us.’ Fox is getting more and more nervous. This mission might require, oh no, socializing. ‘You will get details on your way. Any questions?’ ‘Yes, Boss. Is it true that the passports of Great Butt-ain have pictures of their buttocks instead of their faces?’ ‘Fox. This is your possibility to prove that you can handle a mission. Don’t make me regret this.’ Fox nods, and gets up. As she’s leaving the room, Boss B calls her name one more time. They share a moment of silence, and then Boss B talks for one last time. ‘Yes. The passports of Great Butt-ain have pictures of buttocks instead of faces. Now, go! The nation needs you!’ ** ~:Mission Grab the Pants:~ Main target: hit 72 kg (currently 74 kg) Reward: new workout pants! Goal #1: Move Like Them Samantha Snakes takes part in a yoga camp every day. Fox needs to take part in the same class to learn about Snakes’s contacts. Follow through yoga camp every day No missed days: 10 points 1 missed day: 8 points 2 missed days: 6 points 3–6 missed days: 3 points Goal #2: Eat Their Food Fox needs to eat in the same places as Snakes. Snakes avoids sugary, processed foods, and stays away from dairy. Fox needs to learn to prepare similar foods. Stay away from excess sugar, dairy, and processed foods 5 days a week (2 small treats allowed per week)Try a new recipe every week 5 days: 7 points 4 days: 5 points 3 days: 3 points 1–2 days: 1 point 1 new recipe: 3 points Goal #3: Talk Their Way Fox needs to learn to talk Swedish, the main language of Lilla Rumpa. Read 3 Swedish texts every week. Write down words that are hard, and translate.Have a chat with someone before or after every Swedish class. 3 texts a week: 5 points 2 texts a week: 3 points 1 text a week: 1 point 1 chat every week: 5 points ** Max score for each week is 30 (10 * 3). Here we go!

Volki The Demon Queller… Yay first challenge of 2K16!!! So for my first challenge of this year I want to throw in a mix of weight lifting, running, language learning and writing my own story. The quests are split with 25XP for each to match up with my character and leveling up. Goal 1: Armor of the Goddess +25XP\week I must gain the strength to fight the beasts of Duat and bring down the Seraphim. I plan on following this Dumbbell routine 3Xs a week for the coming month I do not have access to any weights other than a DB rack in the gym of my apartment complex Day 1: Chest, triceps, biceps, forearms Dumbbell bench presses 3 x 10 Incline dumbbell presses 3 x 10 Flyes 3 x 10 Skull crushers 3 x 12 Seated one-arm extensions 3 x 10 Bench dips 3 x 12 Seated alternate dumbbell curls 3 x 10 One-arm preacher curls 3 x 10 Day 2: Abs, thighs, calves Bicycle crunches 3 x 30 Lying leg raises 3 x 30 Dumbbell squats (dumbbells at shoulders) 3 x 12 Dumbbell lunges (alternating legs) 3 x 12 Dumbbell leg curls (dumbbell in between feet) 3 x 12 Dumbbell stiff-legged deadlifts 3 x 10 Seated calf raises (dumbbells on knees) 3 x 15 Standing one-leg calf raises 3 x 12 Day 3: Shoulders, back, calves DB military presses 3 x 10 Lateral raises 3 x 10 Rear-delt raises 3 x 10 Dumbbell shrugs 3 x 10 Dumbbell pullovers 3 x 15 One-arm dumbbell rows 3 x 10 Two-arm dumbbell rows 3 x 10 Standing one-leg calf raises 3 x 12 Dumbbell reverse wrist curls 3 x 12 Goal 2: Shadow Foot +25XP\week I must increase my endurance in order to make the vast journey that lies before me. I want to run for 30 minutes 2Xs a Week with the side goal of increasing the distance I am able to run within that 30 minute time frame. I will post my distance for the first run and will have that as the distance to beat for the following 7 runs. Goal 3: Demon Tongue +25XP\week If I am to become one of the ShadowGuard then I must know the language of the demons and be able to communicate with the people from the different lands. Spanish Practice >20 mins 5X a Week: My goal is to practice my Spanish. My wife speaks Spanish and we are trying to teach the kids to be more fluent. At the moment because I do not know that much, I am setting a bad example for the need to learn it. So I will be using Duolingo and Pimsleur’s Spanish to practice on my own. I will also speak as much as I can with my wife and kids when I am home. The main goal is to become more comfortable speaking Spanish and to set up the habit of practicing at least a little bit every day. Goal 4: Apprentice Scribe +25XP\week I must practice writing the ancient texts and learning their stories. Complete a weekly addition to the story I will be trying to work out the story that I am writing. This is the first story that I have tried to write that hasn't been a microfiction story. I have added in this challenge the origin story of the character that I am writing about in my Battlelog. I would like to add at least a little to the origin story in this 4WC every week as well as finish the direction I am going in Chapter 1 of the larger story. If all goes well I will end up combining the two in order to make a more complete story. So no real goal here just practice and figure out where I want the story to go by the end of the challenge. The link to my other story is listed below: http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/topic/75954-volki-demon-queller/

For right now, this is a placeholder for the Challenge. It's Bye Week Challenge time right now! I confess, I could read/watch The Two Towers and only follow the journey of the Three Hunters across Rohan. Not that Frodo and Sam aren't important, of course. I just love the idea of running across Rohan. That's right, I'm headed to Edoras. I have a lot going on at the moment, and indeed throughout the challenge. A half marathon on July 12, my sister's wedding at the end of June, the fitness challenge that my gym launched last week (and will run though the length of the challenge), and travelling to Quebec (I'm on a layover at Chicago O'Hare right now), Detroit, and central Oregon in the next 4 weeks. So here we go! 1. get ready to run! I've borderline blown out my knees in the past few weeks, thanks to shortened medial somethingorother muscles after heavy squats. I've packed my softball and my running shoes with me, but the big deal will be doing hard core mobility work every day. (Getting my milage back up is a given!) Let's hunt some orc (+DEX, +STR, +STA) 2. The "beach body challenge" kicked off at my gym. Here are my baselines: 5:18 Fran 18% body fat (#117 lean mass) #142.8 Body measurements (my coach has them) We're following the Zone block plan, although one of my coaches gave me a "flexible dieting" book that I burned through. I think I will incorporate elements of that into the "block" idea of the Zone. Right now, I've been impressed by how little the zone gives you to eat. Yes, I calculated my needs based on my lean body mass. My goal is, using MFP, to stick close to a Zone plan/ratio for at least the first 2 weeks. I'll tweak the plan after that point, depending on what way I'm headed. The ultimate goal is to improve on all of those stats! I won't get final feedback until after this challenge ends, but should be able to tell whether I'm making progress in 6 weeks. If I hit #137 at the end of the challenge without losing muscle, I'll consider it a huge win. So far, I've managed to get my protein in every day (+CONS) 3. Daily language practice. I'm tempted to pick up Spanish, thanks to my upcoming Peru trip, but I'm currently en route to Quebec, und ich vermisse Deutsche... but the language of the challenge is FRENCH! (+CHA, +WIS) (just imagine the Eorlingas spoke French, although I always imagined them speaking some germanic Scandi language )

First time Ranger here. I missed out the past couple of challenges mostly due to feeling uninspired to doing them. But I'm back and ready to begin my journey as a Ranger. I have set myself a challenge to lift more and run further than I did last year. The lifting part should be easier as I have a head start on last year (I started going to the gym in April/May) and I can lift more than I did then but I need to keep it up. Running, well I've probably lost my progress and only have the slightly warmer months to do it (the cold air hurts my lungs and makes me feel as though I can't breathe). This challenge is about trying to move towards reaching this while adapting to my new job. Which has more regular hours but my flexibility is compromised. I also have an off peak gym membership. I'm also starting this challenge during an election campaign of which I am part of which helps and hinders (delivering leaflets is a lot of walking and if you get a flat with lots of stairs it can be quite a workout). So my stats for last year: Lifted: 60,234 Kg Travelled: 124km PRs: 21 (Information from fitocracy. I'm relying on them doing so again at the end of next year otherwise I have a lot of counting to do) Challenge 1: Keep on lifting I have one day a week where I am off during the day. I should use this opportunity to go to the gym. I know one day a week is not great but it is my only option for now. This visit should be weights focused (although all my visits are) and cover at least one exercise for each muscle group. To track all workouts will be posted on Fitocracy and I shall update here. Grading: A - 6+ visits B - 5 visits C - 3 or 4 visits Challenge 2 On one day that I'm off at a weekend I should go for a run or do something that is active if I have something else to do (e.g. Delivering leaflets) though first preference should be running. It is warmer now so I will be fine. I will use my zombies, run! App and track on fitocracy and post here. A - 6+ (or equivalent runs) B - 5 C - 3 or 4 Challenge 3 - sort out the diet My diet the past few weeks hasn't been great. I have just gotten in to bad habits. This challenge I'm going to try and get rid of these habits and eat more healthily. This will mean finding healthier lunches and not snacking on junk food at breaks. I have started bringing an apple to work with me and typically have egg sandwiches for lunch. It's not easy being vegetarian though as there is such limited choice and I only have half an hour. I aim to cut down on current eating and more fruit and veg. I am also going to track some days on my fitness pal. I'm going to grade myself by giving myself points per day of healthy eating. All day healthy - 5 Chose healthy lunch - 2 Chose healthy snack - 2 One junk food snack - 1 A - 190-210 B - 170-189 C - 150-169 Life challenge - Learn a new language This is something I've always wanted to do but never 'had the time to'. I've been watching lots of Outlander recently and it has inspired me to take up (Scottish) Gaelic again. I've learned a few phrases over the years ("I love you", "give me the whip", "I'm fixing my car" (I neither own a car or fix one) and "it's very dark" I plan to use my days off mostly again for the bulk of my learning but I want to spend time on nights I am working (or possibly bus journeys). This means 18 days for the bulk of my learning and 24 to supplement it. I will aim to clock 20 hours (just to make it a round number more than anything. But aware that this might be a bit too much. Still, I will track here how many hours I'm doing and some phrases I have learned. A - 20+ hours B - 15-19 hours C - 10-14 hours

I was debating about doing this challenge. I just couldn’t feel it in my heart. However, that all changed last night. I decided to try on my too tight pants (aka: my fat pants) before I went to bed to see if they were still too tight or if they had gotten looser. I could not button them. I cried myself to sleep promising that tomorrow (today) it will all change. Here goes challenge #5. Main Goal: Lose 2-4 inches from arms/waist/hips/thigh/calves. The goal is by April. My friend and I have a bet going. I want to fit into my jeans and my size 10 dress by my birthday, and he wants to fit into his suit for a friend’s wedding. If I win, I get the 13 foot long scarf that he knitted. If he wins, I have to give him a drawing of Supergirl and Batgirl that I’ve wanted to work on. It’s a recreation of this one: Main 3 goals: Do cardio 3x a week Strength train 1x week Track food 5 days a week Mini goals: Swim 1x a week Practice Swedish 30 minutes a weekNot to be confused with a mini challenge. These are goals I want to accomplish throughout the entire challenge, but aren’t as important as my main three. I will not be grading my mini goals. Just a yay or nay each week if completed. Scoring: Each Main Goal will be graded on a scale of A-F. Fully completed will get an A while never even attempted will get an F. Partially completed or half assed attempted will get somewhere in the B-D range. No more crying myself to sleep!

Challenge Number 4!!! And no Firefly reference in the title because I ran out of decent quotes I thought could apply, bummer. Main Goal: Lose 10-15 pounds and/or 2-3 inches from arms/waist/hips/thigh/calves. I would love to do have this accomplished by New Year’s Eve. That gives me 3 ½ months - 1 pound per week for the 15 pounds goal. What’s going to make this challenge interesting, though, is that I have challenged myself not to weigh or measure myself until the end of the year. The numbers make me depressed. I’ve gone into one too many tailspins because of the scale or tape measure not showing what I want. So, to make sure I continue this year on a good note (because I sure as hell need it), I’m not going to step on the scale or pull out the measuring tape. I'm just going to focus on working out and cleaning up my diet (yet again). Main 3 goals: Do cardio 3x a week Strength train 1x week Swim 1x a week (with a 1 week exception)Mini goals: Track food 5 days a week Practice Swedish 30 minutes a weekNot to be confused with a mini challenge. These are goals I want to accomplish throughout the entire challenge, but aren’t as important as my main three. I will not be grading my mini goals. Just a yay or nay each week if completed. Scoring: Each Main Goal will be graded on a scale of A-F. Fully completed will get an A while never even attempted will get an F. Partially completed or half assed attempted will get somewhere in the B-D range. I did get overwhelmed last challenge with keeping up with my thread and with others. So I apologize in advance if I go ghost for a week or two. I also may be on vacation the last week of the challenge, but still determining my vacation days for the rest of the year, so of that I'm not yet sure. Let's get this started!!! <---(more energy than I'm feeling)