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So, 2016 has been absolutely nothing like I expected. After a wild but mostly awesome(barring the persistent back issues) 2015, 2016 kicked off with a completely unexpected breakup. The aftermath of that has been okay on the whole - or at least better than one would reasonably expect in this situation. January and early February were mostly staying afloat. Late February into early March were marked by my first foray back into the dating world in several years, and served as a reminder of how much I've changed(mostly for the better). Mentally where I really turned the corner though, was a little over a week ago. Despite being pretty beaten-up psychologically early this year, I never deviated from my training schedule. I did cut a few days short because the mental willpower just wasn't there, but I did pretty damn well on the whole. The weekend before last, I turned up for a local 5k, and just decided to go for it. Ended up shattering my PR. Needless to say that was a big step forward, mentally. So, what does this challenge entail? Smash PR's 1. I've got a 10k coming up, and I'm going to smash my PR. My 10k PR is a very pedestrian 46:39. I should really be able to drop this by 2+ minutes if I stay healthy and keep training. Stretch goal is to be able to hold a 7-minute mile for 10k, which would mean 43:30 - which would be utterly amazing. Sub-43? Okay, just let me dream. 2. Due to aforementioned back issues, it's been a while since I've deadlifted. Back in 2014 I used to be able to pull 400+ lbs(which looked pretty silly given my frame). Not looking to go for PR's here, but at least after the 10k, to start putting in more work on deadlifts and barbell squats. Because Beast Mode. 3. Decide if I'm going to sign up for a half-marathon in the fall. Because if I sign up I'm going to train and smash more PR's Be good to myself This means "all of the above" - body, mind, etc. 1. Eat well. My diet has admittedly been all over the place the past couple months - from unintentionally dropping 7 lbs over 3 weeks in the wake of the breakup(wasn't hungry), then eventually gaining back about 5 of it, albeit not in the healthiest of manners. I want to eat the way I did the last time I was single(albeit slightly less dogmatically) - healthily, but sufficient to fuel an active 190-lb adult who plans on smashing PR's. 2. Sleep Well. 7-8 hours every night. In bed by 11, preferably 10:30. 3. Limit Alcohol. This goes with #1 and #2 above - it's all about feeling and performing at my best. Exceptions to be made when out with friends and/or on dates. Take care of my **** 1. Work on the damn thesis. Call my advisor this week, get an experiment plan laid out over the next week or two, schedule a committee meeting. Just get that **** done. 2. Find a new house. Decide where I want to live. Get the mortgage pre-approval. Start checking out houses

Brutal Bears Defeats the Nerd Super Villains Introduction: Goal-To Defeat the Evil Nerd Spirits Out Lift the BRO Lift at least 4 times a week. Week 1: 5 Week 2: 5 Week 3: 3 Week 4: 0 Out Run the Impostor Walk/Run 30 miles a week Week 1: 42.4 Week 2: 36.3 Week 3: 44.7 Week 4: 19.2 Out Think the Alpha-Nerd Keep up with daily French studies and twice a week private lessons (an X for each complete week) XXX Sugar Kill The Youth (we all know they only run on sugars) Prep all of the weeks paleo meals on Sunday each week: Weeks done: XXXX Let the Cut Begin Out Friend the Pervert Stay connected on NF-connect with someone everyday Starting Pic: 186 Pounds

So I have an interview for a UK uni on the 10th of feb. Anyone have any tips on what might be asked? I'm applying for a bioscience course. Thanks!

Hi there! No, I know that it normally is "One step at a time" but you will understand this not so brilliant pun.. This is my first try on a text like this and my first trys on thoughts like this. Normally I am the one to receive help, but I wanted to share this idea I had with you. So please look past my terrible writing and English skills, i am learning and living These are just thoughts, don't ruin your life because of some advice on the internet So now that I crashed your hopes, lets get started! Imagine taking a picture of your feet every day, to have a picture based diary, so you can remind yourself of the things that happend one day. But now, imagine your hole diary is consisting of pictures of your feet infront of the TV, in the kitchen and maybe in the shower - kind of lame, right? Looks comfortable, but boring! Days like these are necessary but not pretty interesting. Everyday is the same, you don't get things done and feel sore. But now imagine having a diary full of epic pictures, your feet in the snow, the sand, the mud, on top of a cliff, upside down while bungee jumping - your get the idea. Sounds pretty cool, right? Now that looks epic! Okay, in reality it is pretty unrealistic (and probably unhealthy) to have so extreme adventures everyday. But you understand the difference between these extremes. A lot of people (me included) think their life is missing something. That their life is not thrilling enough, that they are missing the adventures - in short they are missing awesomeness in their life.The problem is, that we wait for the perfect moment to happen or for someone coming into our life to 'wake us up' and guide us to the interesting life. The reality seems different, those times and people are most likely not there. You have to get up and take action Instead of climbing the next cliff (and probably falling down - stay safe!) I want you to think. You should start small - and work yourself up, day by day, adventure by adventure. If you are afraid now, by adventure I mean getting out of your comfort zone and doing something new, unknown and a bit scaring. On paper this sounds easy, and it can be easy in reality too! Start small. Maybe go and visit the small park near you. Or get up and explore the forest. You can take a different route to work today or explore your part of the city. Google sightseeings in your city and go there. Leave the big streets and 'get lost' while wandering. Enjoy the sunset while sitting on a bench. Take your old camera and shoot some pictures, no matter how bad they look. Try to cook something new. Try out a new sport. Just do something new, something interesting, something scary - something awesome! Do something you will be happy to remember. It does not have to be big. I think you get the idea I am not going to write to detailed about this process, Steve already did an amazing job with his guide to building habits ( http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/06/04/new-habits/ ). Now we have this awesome plan and are highly motivated. But what about next week? Or next month? This is where my idea takes action. Take a picture of your feet every time you do something interesting or something you find awesome - something on your way! Now upload it to facebook, twitter or instagram (or just save it on your pc if you want to have a private journey) and then write something about the activity! Maybe what you did, what scared you and most important what made you happy! Now you can come back and see what you already archieved and what you experienced! To motivate yourself, you need to do it as often as possible, maybe you don't want to break your chain of 10 days of beeing awesome so you just go out on the next day even if you don't want to at first and boom you experience the best adventure so far! Now you wonder "Why on earth should I take pictures of my shoes in the sunset when I could shoot the sunset itself??" - You are not wrong. Just do both! On the one hand, having the same motive in every picture makes it more recognizable. And at one point you can do a cool timelapse of your year and see the changing background You could take a selfie from the same angle too, but a lot of people (me!) don't like showing your face - but hey, do whatever pleases you most! To be honest, 100 pics of feet can be boring to people not interested in the story, but maybe they are interested in your story behind it! If you use Instagram, you can tag your pics with #onefootatatime (or is #onestepatatime better? Have to decide yet) and atleast I will check them out and be interested in your stories But lets be realistic. We are all humans, we have jobs, school, family and other things in our life that don't allow us to have hour long adventures every day. But don't get frustrated (especially in the beginning) and remember, you are doing this to have fun and to have a better life! Enjoy the way, don't do things you don't like to do! And on some days, the best we can to is to cuddle into a big pile of sheets and play Fallout for hours What are your plans for the future? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I hope you liked this post! Any addidionally ideas ( I can add them with credits to this post) or feedback? Do you want to join? Thanks for reading! ~Gurkour

Rewind to Summer 2014, when I was last fairly active and on track here at Nerd Fitness, feeling happy and on track, getting strong and loving my strength training regime... and then, due to a $hytestorm combination of factors, it all fell apart. Lots of things went from bad to worse and everything unravelled... fitness, healthy eating, taking care of myself emotionally. It was rough. I lost the muscle, gained some fat, and generally gave up. Ouch! Life hits hard sometimes. I've been watching the NF 6-week challenge bandwagons gallop past over the last year and a bit, feeling a bit sorry for myself, thinking, I really ought to get back on that horse, but I'm just not there yet. Tried a few different attempts to lose the weight I gained - succeeded, gained it back again. Jeez life. Well, a New Year is coming up and that's as good a starting point as any to hop back on that bandwagon. I remember how proud of myself I felt while I was showing solid progress and meeting some of my challenge targets, and I enjoyed this community a lot while I was participating in it. So I'm back. I'm going to try this New Year's six week challenge. I'll be taking some baby steps but things are on the up and up and a lot of those negative things that dragged me down back in 2014 are no longer part of my life. So I feel good and ready to get this started again. See everyone in 2016!

I got the 42 positive, honest self appraisals in Milythaels' HOoRAY, (as the moment, Bekah, the Druid ambassador, as the boss). And still counting! A part of what helped me succeed was that it was always in the back of my mind reminding about positive things, and all that "about surrounding yourself with positive people", yanno? So, I was very, very broken until the last week, somewhere inside me I still am, but I am doing a f*cking insane progress. I can't really believe how awesome this is! I am not sure, if this is borderline delusional, but what the hell! Given where I am coming, this is welcomed for a change. And where I am going, when the endorphins and dopamine ( = The moments/days when it could rains shit and you'd keep on smiling) levels drop, these things still stay, and are a golden line in the middle of day-to-day living that so often is disillusioned and hopeless. - Fending off for the moment the Demonemon (the negative voice we all have to some degree that tries to bring you down and keep you there) - A lot of brutal, honest, wickedly useful and fun (Yeah! I know!) self-appraisal, realisations, stomping on the lies we feed to ourselves, throwing out of the window several parts of the useless, bad habit-ridden crap we haul around daily, - I'm getting better at stomping down my ego, pride, stubbornness and fear of change - As there is said to be the delusion with young people that "life goes on forever, there's always a new tomorrow and I am immortal, I cannot die, ever", thinking about death daily has ground that illusion to the ground. The very, very little things good, that I mostly took granted, hit me sometimes speechless. - And I still like doing immature, unexpected, weird, useless things just for the fun of it, giving a mental middle-finger to the "Oh, what other people think about me"-thought -hell, let them look! Comparing to the shitstorm I have gone and going through, I have a lot less to fear. - Oh yeah, if this or my struggles helps someone, ever, let me know! It would make my day! I feel solemn at the face of this all, because these things usually take a lifetime to learn, and can't be really taught by anyone else, they have to be lived to be learned. And kept alive constantly after learned. And I am barely past 20 years! And how miraculously I happened to be given the hardships, that I have survived, to find out these things, and the knowledge and tools to learn all that I have learned and be here in the forums, with this swirling, wonderful atmosphere. It is not over, but going to the right direction!

Been putting this off for a while but if I start it, I am sure I can roll with a little momentum. I've been absent off and on from the forums because I can never seem to organize myself anymore or put my fitness as a priority (because I really kinda hate it). But now I am the heaviest I have been in many,many years. I have been battling the same 10 lbs for over 2 years and now I have gained even more. I was doing well for a little while, cut out the vending machines and sodas. Even did some morning yoga which I loved. But everything gets overwhelming and now I am having to rush my child to school very early in the morning. I hate to make excuses but it's been difficult. Do I want to lose body fat? Yes, absolutely! Do I want it more than anything? No, not really. There are other things I am working for in life that take a lot of time and priority over it. I am having a HUGE balance problem. I see a lot of people that love working out and want to push their bodies to see what it can do. Or workout till they are exhausted. I don't. I hate it. So that leaves balancing diet right? Well.... I kinda have an overeating addiction that I have also been fighting for years. I refer to it as the "Archdemon." It kicks my ass every time, especially when I am emotional. I've tried many methods and many groups, still can't seem to shake it off even just a little bit. I had been going to the gym at lunch with my hubby until I hurt my back last January and I was forced to stop. Since then I did a few things here and there, but I'm just really out of the habit. I hate working out. I hate it so much. But now I am paying the consequence. I tend to get overwhelmed by the timing of the challenges, so I decided to start a daily battle log: Doing what I can when I can. Small steps. I can't just leap into it, my life's way too busy and I get burned out too fast. But I have to jump start something again because I can no longer fit into many of my clothes. They are all uncomfortable and I'm just miserable. So I guess I am picking my battle: Hate working out or hate not fitting in any of my clothes?? I have reverted back to wearing my old maternity shirts or my husband's t-shirts that are 1 size larger than my own.

What's your most proud moment of all time? It could be about yourself or your kids, anything really.

I'm just not enjoying college so far. Almost the entire time I've been in college, I've hated it. I've only enjoyed certain times in college, and the only semester that I ever really loved was the first Freshman semester, and that's because everything was so new, and shiny, and I was thrilled to meet new people. Now it just feels like a chore or grind, and like everyone moves too fast for me to ever have a meaningful connection with them. Especially since I go to a commuter school, in one of the most dangerous cities in the country, which is another reason why I hate it here. Right now, I'm trying to decide whether if I want to stay with Earth Science and join the military afterwards, stay with Engineering Technology and possibly join the military afterwards, or quit after this current school year and enlist, or try going to college while in the military. It seems like all the things I want to do in life, like seeing the world, helping others directly or in-directly (like doing rescue work), learning how to take care of myself, how to defend myself and others, how to save others, how to build, repair, and drive/pilot vehicles and drones, and so on, are either not easily done in civilian life, or are expensive, or the pay-off isn't good. To do rescue work outside of the Coast Guard, I would probably be an EMT or firefighter, which from what I hear, isn't a very good-paying career path, and not worth leaving college for. To travel, I would have to pay to do so. Besides that, I just want to pursue my other goals and hobbies. Like parkour and martial arts, learning how to play the harmonica, piloting drones and taking photographs (or at least until they're outlawed). But those are just hobbies, and I'm still not entirely sure what I would be doing as an Engineer Technologist. I would assume more work with things like wiring and robotics, if I went down the Electrical Engineer path. If I stick with Earth Science, I may get to do more surveying work that involves more interaction with people, and surveying and examining certain wild locations, as well as potentially make good money from working with GIS systems, which is what I'm more interested in, and it would let me graduate sooner. The only problem with it, is that I have to learn how to speak another language. Now, I think it is important and very useful for any being to learn another language. It's just, I really, really don't enjoy learning how to speak Spanish. To me, it's too similar to English. Some words are just like the English version, some are swapped all around and are spelled completely different. Also, I still can't roll my R's. But everyone said "Spanish is the best language for business", they said. "It's the easiest language to learn", they said. It's fairly uninteresting to me, and very difficult for me to learn, and it doesn't help that I took a year off from Spanish because I was major-hopping, and learning a secondary language is a requirement for Earth Science, but not for Engineering Technology. Everyone tells me it's best to stick with the language I started learning, but I'd rather learn French or something. At least with French, there are other pronunciations I can handle (correct me if I'm wrong), and I can practice by watching an anime I really wanted to watch called Wakfu. I'd even rather learn Japanese or Arabic. From what I've heard, Japanese and Chinese, although quite different, are more systematic than English or Spanish. Also, they look like an alien language to me. Yes, that makes them a fuck-ton harder to learn, but at least it's interesting. Like learning some language from an ancient alien civilization. Plus, there's plenty of animes and mangas I can read that use Japanese. Virtually all of them. Hell, I'd LOVE to practice learning how to speak and read another language by watching and reading something I already love. I can't easily think of anything I would want to, or can, watch in Spanish, unless I try to watch some Spanish dubbing of some show, which is kind of hard without a TV. Hell, I'd say I recognize more Japanese phrases when I hear them than Spanish phrases. I can even learn another language and graduate on time, if I can take a course over the summer, although that's a fair-sized IF. Besides that, everything is OK, it's just I have no interest in most of my courses this semester, and I almost feel like putting no effort into Spanish. The only courses I'm really interested in, are one of my Earth Science classes that have to do with natural events and how they affect people, and a First Aid and CPR class that I chose to take because I felt it was something I needed to know for my own sake and others. I think if I just find some way to keep myself occupied, and once I've gotten a handle on or drop Spanish, I'll be alright for this semester, at least. But I don't want to just be "alright" and make it through each semester. I want to be great. I've been working on some personal issues and trying to figure out why I don't feel motivated to do anything (other than work on my fitness, play games, do CPR, and learn how to fly drones, and learn how to fight) since my second Freshman semester, but I haven't had much success. Some suggested that it might be depression, so I took anti-depressants, but then my dad tried talking me out of using them, and then someone told me that it wasn't depression. Then someone told me it might be ADHD, but I haven't been able to get tested for it because I didn't think I could afford it, until recently. So I'm gonna get tested for it ASAP. I've grown and matured in many ways, and have gotten more control over my social anxiety (mainly by not caring about others and what they think nearly as much), and I actually do have an idea of what I want to do in life, but I still don't feel like doing this school business. That's why I think I went to college too soon. My family's poor, I was eager to get out of my parents' house, I didn't think it was possible to travel or join the Peace Corps or something for a few years before going. The college I'm attending doesn't teach me all the things I'm interested in, and I'd rather go to trade school, but I'm here now, and if I continue down the Earth Science path, I'll graduate in two academic years, if I get no Fs or Ds, and my language classes go OK. It's tempting to drop out and join the military, but that won't impress the Coast Guard, I need time to get in shape, and if I decide I don't want to join, I need something to fall back on. OK, rants over. I just needed some time and space to write my thoughts out and organize them. I think I know what I have to do now.

Introduction and Reason/Goals Within the Challenge The Force Awakens Force Bar 80%80% Grading System Workout Routines Bonus Challenges Starting Picture: 161 Pounds Ending Picture 169 Pounds

Hey all. I've been gone for a while due to some personal life issues and professional life issues. Now I'm at a new job and in a better place and officially getting Back On Trackâ„¢. Some of you may know me, many of you may not. I've been here for a couple years now, and I have to say, it's good to be back. Backstory. When last I traveled these realms, I was a member of a famed RPG Fanatics and an Adventurer aspiring to be a Ranger. During my sabbatical, I had some time to reflect, and while this stance is still a natural one for me I've decided to push my training, both mentally and physically, into a new direction. I am focusing my goals on strength, endurance, agility and overall wellness, as well as clarity of mind and thought. To this end I lift heavy, move fast, practice buddhist meditation and attempt to fuel myself with only healthy, natural things. In the past I: Drank too much. Ate too much. Slept too little. Thought too hard. These days I'm refocusing my energy on, simply put, being happy. And now, it's time to return to place that provided me some accountability and support. Physical goals: 180 lb 8 percent body fat Squat 2.5x my BW Deadlift 3x my BW Bench 2x my BW Row 2x my BW Overhead Press 1x my BW Get back into parkour and rock climbing Bike 5 hours a week Salmon Ladders! Mental goals: 5 hours of medication a week (in any split) 5 hours of writing (non-work) a week 3.5 hours of reading a week Life goals: Get married (date set - Sept 2017) Save for the future Travel the world (one trip per year starting in 2016) Downsize my wordly possessions Spend more time with my loved ones Go hiking and camping more often (reconnect with nature) These are my outstanding goals... here are my more immediate, SMART ones: Work the fuck out: I need to get back into the gym. My work schedule is not helpful for this because of my life situation, but we're working with it. Plan is to go at 6am MWF. Missed today because I only got three hours of sleep last night, but I did a light BW workout. Plan is to either go TThS this week, or just go WF and move forward. Restarting 5x5 plan, but also am going to start seeing a personal trainer in Sept., so that might change. Fucking sleep more: Over the last six months I have slept about an average of three hours per night. Between some personal shit that went down, changing jobs and a few other things, sleep has simply not been my thing. SO! From this day forward, a minimum of six hours a night is MANDATORY for living. Bedtime is 11:30. Wakeup time is 5:45. Let's do this. Be fucking agile: I'm going to get back into parkour again, but first I need to ensure my joints are healthy. Therefore, I need to start stretching every day. I've decided to adopt a stretching routine showcased by some parkour instructors here (click for YouTubeness), which takes about 5-10 minutes every morning and touches every joint without the full requirements of the previous yoga routine I was doing. I am going to do this every morning. NO EXCEPTIONS. Eat only what fucking nature provides: One of the biggest problems I've had over the last few months is the desire to eat. Not eating crap, but simply not eating... I just haven't wanted to. Because of this, and the therefore necessity to force myself to eat, I have eaten mostly crap... so I've gained a little body fat since last year. Not much, but a little. Time to destroy that and get back on track. Therefore, I am going back to my strict modified Paleo diet. Potatoes are allowed in moderation. Liquor and wine is allowed in small doses every couple days. But no grains. No sweeteners except for honey and maple syrup in miniscule amounts. Very little fruit. Low card, high fat, high protein. Grass-fed. Organic. Beast mode shoveling salads and steak in my gaping maw every day. I'm not going to start tracking my food just yet (until I have my meeting with the PT and we discuss diet I don't want to mess with it, plus it's time consuming), but I'm eating clean. Clean the fuck up: I started a new job two months ago, and with that new job came... more money. Thankfully. Anyone who knows my previous situation understands what a blessing this is. However, my apartment is still cluttered and I need to focus on cleaning up my life in a variety of ways. Less booze. Less time spent watching TV shows (I just started MASH however, so that might get a pass for my nightly viewing of 1-2 episodes). Less "things." I recently got back into Magic: the Gathering due to some friends, so I'm rebuilding a few decks and selling the rest of my 3,000+ cards (anyone interested?). Sell my comics. Sell my excess vinyl. Start selling DVDs and books. Start getting rid of the crap that is cluttering up my place, and gain peace of mind. I'm also going to be donating a TON of stuff to Goodwill (mostly clothes) and buying stuff that actually fits (already started this process with a few new, very nice, dress shirts. Next are some pants and new gym clothes and shoes). It's time to clean this motherfucker up and sort out my life. I also need to buy new computers for both myself and my fiancee, so some of this will help pad the savings account while I drop that insane expense (we're both gamers, so we're talking $1,500+ computers). Might do that next Spring though... we shall see. That's about it for me this time around. Joining mid-challenge means I won't be holding myself accountable in terms of a level for my avatar here, so this is just to get back into the swing of things! See you all on the flip side.

Hello Everybody, My name is Aaron, a little about my self and my journey. I was one of those kids that played sports all throughout my child hood, So I'm not a stranger to physical activity. I played football, wrestled, and played lacrosse, when I wasn't involved in sports I was totally nerding out on video games and comic books. After high school I joined the Marines and served my country for six years and was deployed to a combat theater on three separate occasions. During this time I was probably in the best cardio shape I had ever been, weighing in at about 170, Most of my life I have been a chubbier kid but I always had a good strong foundation under the layers of mountain dew and cool ranch doritos. I left the military due to a medical separation, I tore every ligament in my left knee and have no cartilage left and have had four surgeries to correct this issue. As you can imagine this played havoc on my work out routine or really doing anything physically active. Even through that I still managed to stay in the gym and make some gains but I never really achieved the results I wanted because my diet was probably the worst it could have been. I got married at 29 and started a new job, this new job required me to be on the road for months at a time. During this time my diet took a turn for the worse(worse than before) and I ballooned up. When I got home from traveling my ex wife didn't recognize me and let me say she was no longer interested in me. That feeling of her being uninterested lasted for a long time and she finally decided to call it quits last July and moved out. The divorce was finalized in Sept. and I kind of went into a free for all of depression, anxiety, which was compounded by PTSD. I was like this for months, until my 32 Bday in Jan I looked in the mirror and couldn't believe that this was the person that I became and I didn't like it one bit. So I snapped a before picture to remind myself of what not to let happen again. So I went back to what I knew best, lifting weights. It worked well for a few weeks, I got stronger and my fat clothes finally werent being stretched to the max. I was kind of just fumbling my way through. Then I came accross NERD FITNESS and I was instantly intrigued and figured I would read through the page and gain a lot of knowledge. I was really impressed by how thorough and complete and fun the site was. I have been a member of Bodybuilding.com since it came out although its a great resource I didn't feel like I fit in that culture. So after immersing myself into this site and the Paleo diet I can say since Jan, I've gone from 5'9 267 to 5'9 214 and have gotten really strong. I couldn't have done it with out this website and am very happy to finally be joining the community. Thanks for letting me let some steam out, -Aaron "Winter is coming..."

This is a REALLY late entry, but I would really like to start improving my life through this activity. I'm currently exiting a moral spiral of doom, and I would never like to see one again. I want to start small and gear up for the next challenge. I would like to consider this as a tutorial. Main Quest: I want to look like a skinnier version of Wolverin, but also become stronger and healthy. Specific Goals: -Do Level 1 of the "No Gym Challenge" every day. -Eat Paleo for 16 out of 21 weekly meals. (5 quality cheat meals, no garbage or fast food) -Respect a sleep schedule of ~8 hours with natural sleep cycles. (1 cheat day a week, but only Friday or Saturday) Side Quest: -Keep desk clean. Motivation: -Girlfriend's grin upon seeing me shirtless washing car... (Hey! I needed something powerful!)

It’s time to turn it up a notch. My last (un-)challenge worked out phenomenally in unexpected ways. Not only have I had a great, awesome, epic time the last few weeks, I’ve also fallen back in love with fitness. Specifically running. God, have I missed running. I’ve spent a long time thinking about how to set up this challenge. I’ve looked at what has worked for me and what hasn’t, and I’ve made a plan! Achievements work for me. They work much better than rules or numbers. My most successful challenges were those that made me go for shit and not do a certain thing X number of times a week. I like to accidentally clutter my challenges. I feel like I have to put everything I do into my goals and it’s silly. So I’ll be doing much more than what I challenge myself to do and we’ll see how that works out. I like turtles. So for this challenge I'll have goals, they will be rather broad. Within these goals, I'll have certain achievements I can collect along the way. Please feel very free to add achievements if you think of some that I have missed - I like being challenged by you guys. Enough planny shit, here’s what’s going down. I'm going to get fast and strong and eat and live. That is my main goal. And it is especially important in times like this. Unbeknownst to most, the Yeerks have taken residence not only on our planet, but inside many people's brains. It's time I got them out of there. Luckily, I am an animorph. Oh wait - you didn't know that? Well, now you do. Unfortunately there's only so many animals I can touch, and only so much that can be done in 2 hours (don't want to go down Tobias' road and get stuck, that'd blow!) so I've assembled a few animals in my basement to practice with. They shall help me fight off Yeerks. Every achievement unlocked while animorphed kills off one of the Yeerks. I plan to litter the floor with the bodies of dead slugs, yo. Goal Number 1: Run. Horses have always made me happy. Also when I googled animorph pictures and this showed up I laughed for at least five minutes and so I really had no choice but to get a horse and shut it in my basement and abuse it to run from zombies. I'm not a psychopath, I swear. Anyways, apart from the animorphing, it's simple. I want to run. I need to run. Running makes me happy. It makes me feel free and alive and gets rid of all sorts of things like crappy moods and tiredness. I want it every day all day. This goal includes everything run-related. Here's the list of achievements: - Finish the Zombies, Run 5k Trainer - Do an air drop mission - Do a zombie chase and don't get eaten - Run with another person - Run trails - Run through the city park - Run in a different place far from home - Run a 8 minute kilometer - Updated: Run 8 minute/kilometer average on a 5k run - Do 10 uphill sprints up that really steep hill and don't die - Run for 20 minutes straight - Run for 25 minutes straight - Run for 30 minutes straight - Find someone to plan an epic air drop mission with and do it - Run 35km in one week - Run every day for one week - Do a lunch break city run - Do a zoo run - Do an early morning run before work - Run through the rain Goal Number 2: Push it. Push it real good. Everyone thinks that kangarros are just great at kicking but psh you don't know the half of it. MY kangaroo is a total stud and animorphing into kangaroo form is going to be the best thing ever. The goal is to up my push up game. I recently discovered (and have been overjoyed about it ever since) that I can sort of do knee push ups. It feels like push ups are a thing that are possible and more recently I could sort of feel muscles in my arms - what is happening to me, am I stuck in kangaroo form? I don't know. But push ups shall happen sooner or later. Here's the list of achievements: - 1.30 min plank - 2 min plank - 2.30 min plank - 1.30 min elbow plank - 2 min elbow plank - 2.30 min elbow plank - 3 min elbow plank - 30 sec low plank - 1 min low plank - negative push up - push up - 10 incline push ups - 20 incline push ups - 10 knee push ups - 20 plank-to-elbow-plank-and-back-s - 30 plank to elbow-plank and back-s - try those spotted push ups Goal 3: Ditch the candy. And the take out. And stay the eff away from the bakery. This is going to be a tough one. That's why the third animal in my basement is a cat. Cats are picky f*ckers. They don't eat everything. And if they don't like something, they shove it away. Or kill it. Or puke on it. They're assholes, really. I need to be more asshole-y about my eating. I have tasted candy for the first time in years and the best example of how it has ruined me would be the evening that I spend spooning canned frosting with thin mints. It's bad. I love that I'm eating so much, I hate that there's so much junk in there. I'm also spending too much money on lunches that I can simply make at home. So that's the goal. Healthy eating. Pretty basic, right? (I'm typing this as I'm eating the last bits of the reeses heart that I got for valentine's day). Here's the list of achievements: - Prepare lunches in advance for a week - Make a meal plan - Have breakfast BEFORE leaving home every day for a week - Don't eat candy for a week - Don't buy any type of food (unless it's groceries. I'm talkig about the 'Oh I'm hungry I should get a kreppel) for a week - Stay away from the bakery for a week - Cook. Just, whatever. Cook it. Goal Number 4: Sunday Funday Who could be a better teacher to become a party animal than a pug? So much to learn from them. I like fun. I like being busy and never home and just out there. I also like my list of dares that I've not yet completed. There's a lot going on in my life that I could focus on, but as most of those things aren't really a challenge, I just love doing them, and I don't want to overburden myself and set myself up for failure, I'm going to keep this simple. No achievements to be unlocked (currently, I might work on something) but feel very free to dare me. My past sundays have been awesome. Truly awesome. Filled with adventures and amazingness and fun. I want to keep that streak going. Rest days are for the weak. It doesn't matter what sort of fun I'll have on sundays, I just want to use them and not let them slide by. There are too many things to be seen and done. Do you have any other achievements that would work well with my goal? Please share them with me and I'll make sure to add them! No grading. No stat points earned. No rewards. Actually, I might re-think that whole rewards thing. I like rewards.

Hello everyone. I'm a 22 year old mexican man. Just like many posters in here, I'm new to the NF forums and I want to level up my life! My stats: I have a skinny body with a low fat index. I look like an 18 year old. I weigh about 60 kg (120 lbs) and have a height of 1.70 meters (5 ft, 7 in). My best body weigh is 62 kg (130 lbs) from five years ago. A little about my past: I used to be a cardio addict five years ago. I trained MMA and Kung Fu as my main activities. I also jogged around my house and would run on 5k tracks. I was pretty agile, but I was never willing to build muscle. College and work made sure I end that lifestyle. I became really negative about workout activities. I would give up at the first sign of struggle, weather change, or slight sickness. I started to sink most of my free time into excesive, pointless gaming. This contrasted with my previous grandmaster rank on StarCraft II. I also started to eat poorly and drink excessively. Eventually, I started to notice my health started to deteriorate. I was tired most of the time. Through a miracle, I found someone special a couple of years ago. My girlfriend is a fantastic, charismatic lady. I want to be there for her and look like the man she deserves. I know I should think about my own sake; but thinking about her feels more like a primal motivation to me. Who I am now: Ever since I met her I've been trying to improve my condition, but my life feels like a rollercoaster. College and work are still my catalyst for relapse (where I return to a terrible life style). Right now I'm stable (still recovering from a fall), but I need support to stay there. My RL friends are in a similar condition. It is hard to support each other. What I'm doing: I could vent a little bit more about my hardships, but that would be sort of pointless. Instead, I would like to mention what worked best for me this last year. Crossfit training and a paleo based diet really had me going for a couple of months. I had friends who shared my workout schedule, and a strict workflow control. I would like to return to those means to achieve my goals. From what I have read in NF, I believe this community has everything I need. I believe I can make it, and when I do I want to help others around me.

Been meaning to start one of these for a while but finally getting around to it. I decided that I should start one so taht I have a progression showing before I go into basic. Quick backstory. Was once in shape, then lost my shape and trying to get it back now. Newly married in september, decided recently that I am going to be enlistin in the United States Air Force as soon as I can drop 50lbs. So i have started running and bodyweight workouts to prepare. Feel free to throw oppinions in and all of the encouragement that you can muster cause I am going to need it. 4:30am runs and workouts suck! but they will suck less in basic if I do it now. anywho heres to life changes!

So I am braving up to the full NF Life... my profile will have a few links added so i can shout to the world what ive done or not done.. this is my where i will update the weapons I have used, activity's, kit, ect.. MY ARMOUR... my body as it stands mow measured in inches Shoulder 46 / Chest 39/ Bicep 12 / Forearm 11 / Waist 38 / Thigh 23.5 / Calf 16 MY STAMINA... my focus, determination, drive.. Jawbone has a reminder set for Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.. printed on home calender for added importance. MY POWER .. where I eaten how I have eaten... i aim to go mostly Paleo i am not a breakfast eater but will try will write and shame my self if im hit by the hidden traps of sweet offering at work, rest or play.

Looking at how my life has been lately, I may bring up dark topics, like depression, suicide, sadness, vulnerability... Spending so my time with these thoughts, I've gotten very used to them. 1) To do the right thing Last 2-3 months I have spent about 50-75 % of my time at work on webcomics, and non-work related websites, like Tvtropes.org and Cracked.com. But I have still gotten my salary. That is same as I had stolen the money, and I need to talk to my boss about this. But I might get fired, and/or need to return the money. But it's not mine, so the talk must be had. Continuing the 1000 cuts upping it to 200 points at the end of the challenge. And continuing the gratitude journaling. 4) At least 2 hours of productive homework time/day, 5 days/week. I have a ten page essay (due end of this month) and practical training paperwork to do. -I'm grateful for the NF community among other things for encouragement, and words of hope. -I had a decent meal health-wise lately. -A 3.5 mile/5.5 km walk, and some bodyweight exercises lately. I feel a bit better because of it. (Seems like I can't see much in my life to feel grateful for.) Hence the challenge.

Looking at how my life has been lately, I may bring up dark topics, like depression, suicide, sadness, vulnerability... 1) I will commit to one Random Act of Kindness every week Jitters suggested it'd be helpful to look for opportunities to help other people. Not just opening a door for someone, or a compliment, but something they will remember, and smile about. 2) Zenhabits 1000 cuts "Over the previous challenges, I have several times tried working out as a solid set of bodyweight exercises with a warm up, exercises and streching. It has felt intimidating and pressing to obsess over it and have it as a unyelding chunk. Then, during the Planksanity I found it fun to do planks in small 1-2 minute doses over the day. So it turns out The Zenhabits Thousand Cuts Fitness Program, as described there, http://zenhabits.net/1000-cuts/ is small things along the day. A few pushups there, a pull up when you pass the bar, run when you feel like it. Making them more frequent, harder and preferably something playful given time. So for future comparison, run until I have to stop, 10 push-ups or 1 minute good-form plank are sufficient each for one point." This has worked before, I got results with it, I felt better. I can do 10 push ups, a little planking, a few lunges... I feel like shit sometimes, both mentally and physically. Human beings are meant to move, and when that doesn't happen, it leads to all kinds of problems, right? So I have to get off my butt. 3) Find three significant / beautiful / good things I am grateful for, every day. (I remember Liberator did the same thing before, so tip of a hat her way ) There has to be, and are, good things in my life, I know it. I forget/don't want to look for them sometimes, and still they are there. I am alive. I bought vegetables instead of candy. My workday wasn't a complete disaster. I still did some productive things. 4) Go to work, every day, on time, and do focused, productive work. Last week, I used almost three full workdays on computer games, NF and other shit not related to work. That is unacceptable. I am not proud of it. They pay me to work there, and then I cheat on them like this? Makes me feel horrible. I wouldn't go and steal from the cash register, or lie to my co-workers, but what I am doing is so close I might as well have. It isn't right. I do not want to be that kind of a person. Also, I will not cut a single meeting with my therapist, and I will be honest with them.

Fitocracy: https://www.fitocracy.com/profile/ravnos/ Fitbit: http://www.fitbit.com/user/2768K8 Time to keep a "running" log (pun unintended). I'll just be copy and pasting my info from those two sites over at the end of the day, seeing as that's where I track all of it anyway. This will be 6-7 months into eating mostly Paleo, and 2 days into restarting my fitness routine! General breakdown: Morning - Yoga every day followed by basic body weight workout 3-days a week. Then a shower before breakfast to give me a 20-30 minute break before eating. Breakfast - pseudo-"bulletproof" coffee. Hot coffee1 tbsp grass-fed unsalted butter1 tbsp whey powder1 tbsp coconut milk (high MCTs)I usually add about 1/3 of a tsp of (pure) stevia just to sweeten it up a tiny bit.In-between - Work work work work work Lunch - usually a salad, a pan-fried/grilled chicken breast with some steam vegetables or leftovers from dinner the night before. In-between - Work work work work work Dinner - 9 times out of 10 a mostly paleo meal. I cook dinner, and my girlfriend is 90% vegetarian/pescetarian(?) so sometimes I make a vegetarian meal and cook a little meat on the side for myself... or I sneak bacon in and don't tell her (she loves bacon). However, I do supplement with some extra carbs once in a great while if I'm particularly hungry that day, or the meal isn't enough to satisfy my girlfriend's hunger without the meat portion. Usually this will be rice, but sometimes beans, corn or potatoes... so yes, I cheat a bit. I will enjoy a single beer, hard cider or the occasional finger of whiskey with dinner 3-4 times a week. After dinner I usually have something going on, be it band practice or D&D or another even, which I will usually bike to, so add about 3 miles of biking after dinner. Over the course of the day I will also drink about a gallon of water.

Hey ladies....So need some advice. I'm a little in a funk today, it's that hormonal time, where all I want to do is cry and hit my bed and be in a pocket of sleep. It doesn't help I am having the "case of the Mondays". I'm forcing myself to get to the gym, but on days like theres how do you get yourself motivated? I've been doing reall well on going and working out and eating well, but I've hit that dreaded week. HELP!

The topic turned out maybe too honest. A fair warning: I personally think you should read this as an adult, and then decide if it is okay for your kid to think of such. Concerns dark and sad emotions and suicidal feelings. -Thank you My motivation: See to that all the true and beautiful things what I learned from my clear moment after the really dark patch in the middle of 2014 does not become one of those times I’ve had many before, where I see clearly, and then I let it all drop because of the struggles of day-to-day living, and they never get a chance to become reality from thoughts. There’s been many lapses before and thinking about every single time pisses me off. How could I blow such a great chance? The quote encompassing this is: Author probably unknown. My big goals, broken into achievable steps: Skim on everything non-essential, that, in the end, only takes from my happiness, getting me only a short burst of pleasure. Coffee, buns, junk food. I don’t eat them all that often, but I feel unable to dodge the thought of paying 5 € for a pizza to get to stuff it in my face feels like selling my dreams a tasty piece-by-piece. And with that thought the pizza tastes like ash. And burn ludicrous amounts of money into things that really are important, show in my life and others’ lives and make them better. Quality healthy food, exotic+expensive fruits that spice up the meals, good quality meat and fish, the occasional, to-die-for melt-in-my-mouth chocolate, quality, emotion inspiring movies and visits to movie theater with friends, to use money to get more time… I get that as I drop out those useless experiences that I already forgot? Yes all the way! Because one day I thought: “How much good memories cost, anyway?†They are priceless. I want to save up 1000 € by the start of the Camp Nerdfitness (640 for the camp access, 400 for travel), because I want to be there. And even if I do not make it to the Camp, I have a whole grand to use on something awesome. Win-win situation. Yes, partially I want to show my family that I do a thing that’s completely my own . I will swap the NF camp to at least a month abroad, preferably more. With 1000+ euros I can do a lot better than 3 days abroad. I know the NF camp would've been fun, but this will reap more benefits for sure. How: I will take part in No soda PvP, cutting down coffee, soda and sugary juices completely during the challenge. One cheat allowed per week,if it is something amazingly good, like thick, warm choco. I drink coffee twice a day, like a clockwork, juice daily, but soda very seldomly. I have a jar in which I wrote “Dreams†to remind me to save all the small coins from my wallet every time I pass it. --------------------------------------------------------------- I am going to continue the Zenhabits 1000 cuts fitness program that is making progress. Fearkiller, on 26 Feb 2014 - 11:46 PM, said: My first touch with parkour was Mirror’s Edge, and when you speed-drilled you way through the level, and it went good, the flow was amazing. I want to be like Faith, a flowing thing of movement, grace and beauty. And brag about it as I do the ever so casual vault over the fence that everyone else is taking as a obstacle. And if parkour is a awesome way of life as a side effect, it is a sweet bonus "Parkour is natural, effective movement. That’s it. In French, we use the term passement for overcoming any obstacle. You pass or traverse a barrier in whatever way suits you and the moment; there’s no one prescribed method for anything. Parkour is a lens of efficiency applied to every aspect of your movement through life. At its broadest definition, it implies a low-impact and considerate attitude towards bosses, co-workers, family, friends, driving, consumer purchases, and the environment (natural or manmade). What is the least effort and stuff you need in order to live the most meaningful and happy life you can make for yourself? As with the Nerd Fitness Rebellion, it is an exuberant and responsible celebration of life." -Dakao, in The definitive guide to parkour for beginners 2) And we were watching a parkour video from Youtube with my little brother, and this was the discussion: Me: That is wicked cool, just look at it! Seriously! Him: Yeah, it is. Me: If I start right now, I could be there, doing that! In a decade, easily. Him: Yeah, like you could. You’d be tumbling on your face in a second. Me: Oh, but it has to be started so slowly, with the basics, working your way up… Him: Mmh… Just forget it, it’s not going to happen. Me: Oh, we will see. I will get there, in ten years, vaulting over things and being awesome! You just watch! How: I will start making the ‘cuts slowly into something more parkour like: plyometric box jumps on top of and over objects, running through uneven terrain in the woods, learning three easy parkour moves that can be done everytime the opportunity arises. And I am planning to join the Assassins the next challenge. ---------------------------------------------------------------- The practical training place – go to work, be in time, and do actual work there, every single day. Even if there’d be a “fuck-it-all, hopeless, dark negativity†somewhere in between there. That demon has been beaten, and I fear to talk about him, or he might come back. There must be a ridiculously, immensely good reason not to go. If I play the fuck-it-all-card even once, it’s fearfully easier the second time, and third, and then… I would lose the golden line of doing things, if I get kicked out of there. I will not go there again, if I can help it. NO. Also, I am fortunate in that when I walk out of the door at 5 pm, I do not have to drag a single piece of my work home. So, as it is common that people say “I am so tired after workdays, I really can’t imagine doing anything else than fall to the sofa and zone out†and I have been there seldomly with the schooldays, and I see people in my family do it often. I want to experience how do I have to use my limited free time usefully so that it helps me to be alert and vigilant. How: Go to sleep at 10 pm, get up at 6 am, and find a way to get up, even if it is that alarm clock that sounds like a fire alarm (but I hope I don’t have to go there). Spend 15 minutes daily/an hour weekly thinking what I did wrong/right, how do I feel, why, and what can I do to improve. The practical training work starts 14.7, so this goal would only apply the last week of the challenge. I will switch this simply to a sleep goal. To sleep at 10 pm, up at 6 am. I will find a way. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Life goal: I have had trouble lately, because not much gives me joy anymore, and life feels useless. Living life because of the life itself is pointless, and even the good moments, while nice, lack a reason, they have no deeper meaning. I could shrug all I do away with little effort, not a lot of things feel real. 3 minutes of meditation daily. Whenever I have spare time (have to wait for something, have a break, etc.) I will close my eyes and breathe from my diaphragm, letting my mind settle, focusing my attention to the breathing only. That’s how the theory goes, my practical application may vary

Alternative title: "Jaymul cleans up at home and jerks it hard in the gym" This challenge is going to be a bit different from my previous ones - lifting goals aren't going to be set target numbers, there'll be more focus on life stuff. For those who don't know me or are new to my challenges - hi! I'm Jaymul, I'm 30 and I live in Scotland. I'm a weightlifter of the Olympic variety. Starting Stats: As of 07 June 2014. Bodyweight: 87.2kg Bodyfat %: ??% Snatch: 87.5kg Clean & Jerk: 100kg Clean: 115kg Back Squat: 182kg Front Squat: 140kg Gains In the Gym Goal #1 - Jerk it Stop giggling in the back. My jerk is my biggest weak point in my lifting and one that my coach and I have been maybe a bit lax in addressing as we've been focusing on the snatch. The snatch has really come on lately so it's time to devote the same attention to the jerk. By the end of the six weeks I want to: Close the gap between my max jerk (100kg) and my max clean (115kg)Increase my max push press (currently 80kg)Goal #2 - Go hard or go home So lately in training I've been responding really, really well to intensity - the more heavy lifts I make, the easier I find it to lift heavy. Who'd have thunk it? This won't last forever and eventually more volume at lower % weights will be needed but for now, it looks like this is the way programming is going to go. During this six weeks I want to: Hit a 90+% lift in the snatch (80kg+) and the jerk (90kg+) at least once every week outside of my scheduled Saturday maxout dayGains In Life Goal #1 - Buy a new home My other half and I are trying to buy a new flat at the moment. Unfortunately we had an offer on a really nice place rejected yesterday. Somebody offered 20% over the value By the end of the six weeks I want to: Have an offer accepted on a property and be preparing to complete the purchase/move in Goal #2 - Go on holiday and relax I'm going on holiday to Greece for a week at the end of the second week of the challenge. Do you guys know how long it's been since I had a proper holiday? No, neither do I - that's why I need one. The plan is to take the week off completely and relax, no attempting to find a gym locally or anything like that. What I'd like from the holiday is: To relax completely and come back re-energised, recharged and ready to kick some serious ass for the next 6 months

Okay, so I'm not gonna say much. And I'd appreciate it if you didn't ask questions, because it's still a bit hard to talk about, but today I celebrate. Why? Two years ago was when I almost decided to take my own life and didn't. Two years ago to the day. And that was also the day that I found my faith in God. I've been growing ever since then. At first it was mostly recovery (as much as I could from what had happened) but a little more than a year ago the recovery switched wholly into pure personal growth. Today, I am stronger (emotionally, mentally, and spiritually) than I have every been. I would say that my personality is the most developed that it has ever been and I am the most confident that I have ever been in my life. (for one, a year ago at the one year anniversary, I would've never done something like this) So... Woot If anyone ever feels like they want to take their own life and they're here reading this, then I beg you not to. It doesn't fix anything. It is the hottest fires that will forge the strongest steels, and you can come out of the state you're in right now stronger than you could ever imagine. It happened to me and it's happened to some of my friends. Please. Decided to live.

Lately my life goal has been to become a Wizard, or a mentalist, which is probably as close as one can get to becoming a Wizard in RL. After obtaining, ehh, less than stellar results during recent challenges, I had to do some thinking in order to figure out why my performance at the game of life is so sub-optimal. It turns out that I may have been trying to embark on the Wizard path without having the proper pre-reqs. To re-iterate what I've been complaining about for just about every challenge: I am way too quick to anger, can't focus worth a damn, stress out because of everything, am anxious as all hell, cry at the drop of a hat...you get the idea. This is the opposite of being a Wizard, and I've been trying to change things, but so far nothing has worked. I'll be feeling all good and fine, but then one encounter with, say, some random dumbfuck driver in the campus parking lot will ruin my whole day. Little things. I've also recently admitted it to myself (and most people close to me) that I'm dealing with depression. Something about checking off fourteen items off the list when one only needs five in order to qualify for a diagnosis. This is mostly due to being in school for too long combined with the fact that academia isn't really a good fit for me. Did I realize this seven years too late? Oh yes. This, coupled with the inability to find a decent job or career and essentially starting back at square one with 30k of debt is, well, pretty damned depressing. I do realize that none of this is my fault, and is more the result of a shitty economy and job market, and listening to the advice of "grown ups" saying that a degree and hard work equals a good career. Goddamn lies. Even though I do enjoy learning moar science and taking classes just for the sake of learning, all the bonuses granted by leveling up "Science Degree" skills in the Game of Life were broken when the Harper Government update went live some years ago. Back to the challenge. I don't have any documentation or supporting information for this, but I'm preeeetty sure that mental stability is a prerequisite for becoming a Wizard. It sure as hell is a pre-req for becoming a mentalist, as the book states. This challenge will therefore be dedicated to getting myself, my mind, and my life back on track. Or on a track in the first place. Main quest: to level up the prerequisite skills that will allow me to unlock the Wizard class later on. 1.1, Lumosity: This one stays, for two reasons. One, I’m paying for it, and not using it would be a waste of money. Two, it keeps track of my progress, daily moods, and hours I’ve slept, meaning that I don’t have to keep track of these things myself. It’s also not very time-consuming. Speaking of sleep… 1.2, SLEEP! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgfhGMnw0PI I have only been sleeping for roughly 4.5 hours on average since December. This is clearly not enough, and it shows more and more with each passing week. For example, here is a list of mindless shit I’ve done this week so far: - Forget how to turn the radio on in my car. - SO MANY TYPOS! It keeps getting worse. - Turned on the wrong stove burner, made a mental note to turn it off and turn on the correct one, forgot said mental note, deposited breakfast eggs on the wrong (and hot) stove, burning my hands and dropping the eggs in the process. At least the cats were happy. - Forgot about my coffee, re-heated it, forgot about coffee in the microwave, re-heated it again…repeat 4x. This happened more than once. - Constant brain fog, inability to think, and general lack of productivity that leads to increased stress. - Hitting the brakes way too slowly while driving. In other words, My goal here is to get at least six hours of sleep per night. I know that most web sites suggest seven to nine hours, but I figure I should start small. Baby steps! If my alarm goes off at 5:30, it means I need to fall asleep before 11:30. So I need to be in bed by 11 just to be on the safe side. I probably won’t go to bed before 11 on Friday and Saturday nights, but I’ll just sleep a bit longer the next morning. Still, it’s pretty much impossible for me to stay up past 1:30 now anyway, so my sleep time won’t get shifted by any more than a few hours. Tuesday nights are also variable, since I don’t have to be up at 5:30 on Wednesday mornings. Grading: daily Pass/Fail 1.3, vanity: Several little things can be done in order to improve my appearance and my life in general. Or should I say improve my life first and my appearance second? Either way, many books I’ve read have made mention that good-looking people make more of an impression, or at least have an easier time making a good impression. Even the mentalist book says so! To maximize my chances at getting a job—and to generally feel better about myself—I’ve come up with a checklist of little things that will give me +CHA: 1.3.1: Not picking at my face Why: this has been a challenge item before, and I had done well at reducing the amount of face-picking at the time. The bad habit has recently returned due to recent stress, and has to be dropped again. Grading: based on how many pickings. 1 to 15 = A, 16 to 30 = B, etc. (GRADING SCHEME MAY CHANGE) Result: clearer skin, healthier skin, not looking like an anxious wreck. 1.3.2: Staying hydrated Why: the fluids I ingest usually consist of coffee or alcohol, and never water. My blood likely has the consistency of syrup, which can’t be good. I’m aiming for 6 glasses of water per day for a passing grade. Grading: pass/fail. Result: better-looking skin, hopefully more energy, increased possibility of getting on the goddamned leaderboard at the gym when it’s shuttle-run day. 1.3.3: No more than two drunken nights per week Why: So I don’t become a real alcoholic. I need to re-post the list of what alcohol does to one’s skin…and liver and everything else. Even though dry red wine or spirits contain fewer calories and sugars and probably won’t make me fat, they certainly won’t help me lose fat, either. So whenever I feel a drink craving, I’ll just think of the fat that still clings desperately to my ass. BE GONE! Grading: pass/fail, with two fails allowed only if I make it a point to eat well during those days. Result: clearer skin, probable fat loss, overall increased appearance. 1.3.4: Take care of my nails daily (I can’t believe I just wrote this) Why: my fingernails have been getting quite filthy lately, and it looks unprofessional. I’m not only thinking of job interviews here, but also every day interactions and general networking. I think the filth is mostly due to me putting coconut oil or hemp seed oil on my face as a moisturizer, and then the oil gets under my nails and collects dirt more easily throughout the day. Grading: pass/fail, automatic pass if no filth is detected. Result: not feeling gross, not looking like a hobo. 1.3.5: Brushing and flossing every night before bed Why: so I don’t wake up with a gross taste in my mouth the next morning. I usually have no problems brushing and flossing once daily, but I wake up with an icky feeling when I don’t do this just before sleeping. Grading: pass/fail. Result: not feeling gross, whiter teeth. 1.3.6: Take cold(er) showers Why: because hot showers dry my skin right out, making it all flaky. In turn, flaky skin 1) makes me look older, 2) gives me the urge to pick at my face more, and 3) turns my black coat sleeve grey when I wipe it across my face. Yes. It’s THAT bad. Grading: % will depend on how many showers were taken. Result: dry skin, be gone! 1.3.7: Relax my face Why: I’ve noticed lately that my face muscles tend to be tense all the time, for no good reason. This probably makes me look awkward and ugly. Unacceptable! In fact, I’ve caught myself doing this so many times just writing this post that I’ve lost count. I’m pretty sure it’s over 40. Grading: ????? Result: less wrinkles, not looking constipated during everyday life. 1.3.8: Cook quinoa once per week Why: because quinoa is awesome and I want to have it more often, but the pre-made quinoa salads are freaking expensive, even at Costco. The dietitian on campus also stated that they were a great source of carbs (along with fruits and potatoes) and that my carb intake was way too low since I had greatly restricted bread from my diet. I used to cook Kraft Dinner like a boss, and I’m pretty sure that cooking quinoa is similar, and involves soaking the quinoa in water, and then doing…something, followed by something else. How hard can it possibly be? Grading: pass/fail. Result: reduced chance of getting fat. 1.3.9: Wear that ugly retainer Why: so I can stop chewing on the insides of my lips and cheeks, which is a habit that’s become even worse than the face-picking. Having the retainer in my mouth for a few hours per day will also force me to enunciate more, lest I sound like I have a speech impediment. Grading: pass/fail (will have to elaborate on this a little. I clearly won't wear it ALL the time). Result: passive speaking practice bonus, not making random and unattractive duck faces. 1.3.10: Coffee cap: three cups Why: having five or more cups of coffee per day can't be good for my system. Think of those poor adrenal glands Grading: pass/fail. Result: better-looking skin, reduced anxiety, increased savings. Life Quest: get a job! I need a job. Like, now. Preferably something I can tolerate and involves opportunities for advancement. Every day I will do one thing (or more) that will increase my chances of finding employment, be it send a resume and cover letter somewhere, make a new cover letter, update my LinkedIn profile, follow up on an application, check out job web sites, etc. I will be keeping track of this job seeking adventure on my tumblr. The good thing about tumblr is that it does not require one to use their real name in order to make an account (yet), and thus my rants will not be found by potential employers like how they would be on Facebook I'll probably post these here too, actually. If I can ace this challenge, I’ll have my life in order, and I will be able to work on becoming a wizard/mentalist again.