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Hi Friends! A new challenge and I am so excited to get started! May 9th is my one year anniversary of being on the forums and I have decided to celebrate my commitment thus far by having a jubilee! I have been prepping pages in my Bujo, thinking hard about my goals, and trying to strategize for success. I am celebrating a year of showing up, thinking hard, making changes, and seeing results. My most astonishing result is that I haven't had a serious binge since I started writing on the forums. I've had three smaller infractions, but nothing that I would even compare to how I used to get. I am blown away by this. I feel much more confident with weighing in as data gathering rather than a moral judgement even if I still get caught up with it sometimes. I am looking at capabilities more than scale results to determine my progress much more often. I am less concerned with what others think of the body I have, and no longer preoccupied with what they might think of the strength and endurance I am trying to achieve. Lots to celebrate! And I have lost ~20 lbs in the last year, which isn't nothing. However, I did not lose any weight last challenge. I have not measured so I don't know if there were any shifts there. I will measure soon. I think it came down to two things: I was over carbs about half the time and I wasn't moving as much as I wanted to be despite improvements in both those goals. So this challenge will be functionally a reprise of the last one, focusing more intently on keeping my carbs at 75g or lower each day and getting my walks and workouts in. Because in this challenge we are adding bodyweight workouts! I have been working with The Herbcrafter's Tarot a lot since a recent trip to Regina, and the card Linden really resonated with me. It shows a woven fence made of branches: In the symbology of the deck linden stands for play, childlike engagement, and the beginners mind: The Hija of Earth connects to life with the heart of a child. Using the resources available at hand, the Hija of Earth weaves together their boundaries, identifies and protects what they value. Dedicated to working in an orderly fashion, to laying a solid foundation for future endeavours, the Hija of Earth goes forth without fear, knowing that they are capable of the job they are being asked to perform or the task they have set for themselves. This Hija reminds us that we are enough. We can do this. We are right to believe in ourselves. I feel like it's time to create some firm boundaries around my movement time in a day and make that non-negotiable. I also feel like I need to create firmer boundaries around my nutrition and make sure that I am being good to myself there. To support these goals I had a conversation with Dave about what I wanted to accomplish and he is supportive. We talked specifically about his desires to eat a certain way not jiving with my goals and he has assured me that he will not be hurt or offended if I refuse to have something he wants or brings me. So that eases my mind considerably. Now I need to continue to meal plan and batch cook and stay aware! Specific goals for this challenge so I know what I am measuring against: 1) <75g net carbs a day 2) 25+g fibre a day 3) 5600 steps a day (minimum) 4) NF Beginner Bodyweight workouts every other day starting today 5) Darebee movement snacks every day 6) Bujo chart tracker for things like water intake, dishes, Latvian, reading, etc, completed as much as possible each day My Bujo set up for this challenge: I am not as nervous to start as I have been in some of my previous challenges: I know I am capable of what I am setting out to do. This confidence is pretty cool and I think is the culmination of a year's worth of self-investment. I need to balance knowing I can do the thing with being compassionate when things don't go the way I want them to. I feel I am making progress on that front, too. I hope that I am not being over-confident. But I guess we will find out! If you are challenging this season, I hope you have clarity on your goals and verve to achieve them. If you are resting this season, I hope the rest replenishes you amply. Thanks for being here! ❤️

For those who are new or behind, my main goal is weight loss, for health reasons as well as I want to look good naked, and fit in clothes I used to. I love 5Ks and kettlebells. I'm struggling with this goal because it doesn't get easier when you get older. My birthday happens in the middle of this challenge so there will be some flexibility for that if D decides to plan anything. I work from home, (3 jobs) as an accountant, so making sure I have enough movement in my day as well as not eating "all the unhealthy things" is important. It's very easy to lose track of how much time I've been sitting trying to solve an issue. Not having "all the unhealthy things" in the house also helps. I struggle to get enough sleep so that shall remain on the list until it's no longer a struggle. I found a ‘diet’ plan, the Dr. that came up with its target audience is post-menopausal women. It’s really a combination of several different things like IF, Low Carb/Keto, and Macros. The common denominator is calorie reduction, of course, unless you burn more than you take in, nothing is going to work! My biggest issue is I get tired of trying to figure it all out and do a lot better when someone just tells me how and when to do it, so I’m putting this on easy mode until I lose the weight! I’ve decided to go back to the 5k training plan I used in 2019 that worked better than anything else I tried…it calls for one day strength training, three days ‘running’ (intervals at your pace is suggested) and one to two days cross training or rest days. I took a break in the middle of this because NF Journey had a 5K training that was very similar, so I’m doing that instead. I will be transitioning back mid-challenge because that will end, I’m also using the NF Journey app for workouts on the two days I’m not running. Checking in to hold myself accountable is key to this being successful, I don't want to have to post bad news here. I plan on posting daily to make sure I'm on track where I need to be. Workout - The 5k training plan/NF Journey App Rest - Sleep (7 hours a night) - sleep is important Extra - Rides, 5k's, events, and life events go here - because fun makes life worth living Steps - Hitting my 7500 steps a day goal, minimum Track - Food, follow Galveston Diet, track in Chronometer Update - Post in thread at least three times a week. - self explanatory Duolingo daily

2019 was to be a year of crushing all the things. Unfortunately, I need to heal up my ribs before I can do more. So, this challenge is going to be about trying to keep exercising whilst not overdoing it so I can heal. Additionally, I will need to play closer attention to diet and stress relief as I won't have my usual crutch as it were of HIIT and running for a while. Bah! Tis no fun! So, here's the plan for the first challenge of 2019: Walk on a regular basis. Without the running and HIIT, I need some amount of exercise. The dog will be my friend with these. At least 5 walks per week. Determine what exercise I can do with this rib injury and do it. At least 3 times a week. Control the carbs. Not as much margin for error while everything heals. I really need to be strict about keeping my net carbs under 70g per day. Silent time. I did pretty good with this the last challenge. I need to keep it up. 10 minutes a day all to myself for prayer, reflection, meditation, etc. Secret goal. I'm going to work on a project I've been thinking of for a while. It's time to do it. I will hopefully have it ready for unveiling by the end of the challenge. There you have it. That's how I'm starting out 2019. Getting healthier and setting up for a winning year.

For those of you who haven't seen my recent challenges, they have been a bit...scattered. Mostly they end up reverting to running and counting net carbs. The start of the year everything was more focused - beat the blood sugar monster and reverse Type II diabetes. While I'm still working on that one, the end of this last challenge had my blood sugar numbers averaging under 100 for the last couple of weeks. This despite the fact that my exercise goals have been ping-ponging all over the place and the ability to focus has been non-existent. So we're going to try to change that with more of a plan. I don't know if it's already an acronym or not, but as I laid these out I realized they spelled out NEST. Hmm, not sure its a good acronym as I'm not sure what it gets at (building a foundation? a new life home? a comfy place??????) but what the hell, let's go with it! I'll even move it into the title and bold the first letters of each category! (stream of consciousness goal setting and I wonder why my mind has been scattered lately) Nutrition This is working for now, so I'm not going to change too much initially. If I'm too tired or not recovering as well as I think I should, I might look to add more to some of my macros. Total carbs under 100 grams per day, protein around 150 grams per day and the rest will be fats (no trans fats and poly unsaturated fats should be kept to a minimum). Find/create some quick and easy low carb smoothie recipes for breakfasts on the go. This will be especially helpful when the kids go back to school in September and my mornings get crunched for time. +1 point for each day the macros are hit and +1 point for each new recipe tried. 36 points possible (28 for macros and 10 for smoothies) Exercise The context here is that the running and net carb counting has helped me drop 30+ pounds over the last 9 months. While my heart, lungs and blood-work are much improved, my strength (as well as my ability to do things other than running) is lacking. So, I'm going to try to set the foundation for the upcoming months of getting stronger. Resistance training 3x/week - This could be body weight training, weight lifting, etc. But, something that requires me to use more muscles than my legs, heart and diaphragm. Running 2x/week - I'm cutting this back but not out. I enjoy it too much to get rid of it. Could be some sprinting, slower distances or a temp run. But, just get outside and move quicker than walking from point A to point B. Interval/circuit training will be some component in each of the above workouts. I will somehow integrate them together to keep things fun and interesting and then post them here to be kept honest. +1 point for each instance of exercise completed. 28 possible (I'm not counting zero week) Sleep I've been bad lately about staying up too late and then getting up and expecting to function. I've done okay in the mornings but run out of steam as the day wears on. Could be caloric intake, but during a week of vacation last challenge where I got almost 8 hours of sleep a day, I didn't have that problem. During vacation I slept in. Now I need to go earn a living, so I need to go to bed earlier at night. Be in bed by 10:30 each night as a goal. No phones/tablets/computers after 9 PM. +1 point for each nighttime routine completed successfully for a total of 28 points. Time management I can't stay focused without being organized. Being organized is something I suck at. So, baby steps. 10 minutes each day checking/planning the day's calendar. Can be simply looking it over to make sure I have things set in my mind, or it could be time boxing my day planning it out. But, this is to avoid not being prepared when something pops up on my screen saying I have something going on in 15 minutes. 15 minutes each week checking/planning the week's calendar. Ideally, this will be Sunday night (starting at 8:45 PM at the latest) getting the week mapped out. +.5 point for each day and week for a total of 16 points.

The last 2 challenges have been about me getting used to this whole diabetes idea and figuring out who to handle this sans medication. As a result, I've lowered my glucose numbers from the 200's down to around 105. I've also dropped 7 pounds after dropping 15 before getting this wonderful news exactly 2 months ago to the date. But, being a data guy, I've been tracking all of the data I can think of as well as reading every study I can find, watching tons of talks on diabetes and asking the nutritionist in my diabetes education classes a bunch of questions. I think I've got a pretty good idea at this point as to what works for me and what doesn't. I'm still open to other ideas and viewpoints and will still be trying some different things out, but I will mostly be zeroing in on what provides the best benefits to me. Why? Because, ultimately, life your life or mine is lived as n=1. Yes, there are tons of studies and stats suggesting one thing or another, but you have to live your own life. I had neighbor who was diagnosed with some kind of cancer in his nasal passages. The doctors told him that 95% of patients come through treatment with no more cancer found and go on to live many more years of life. Unfortunately for Jim, he was one of the 5%. Before he died he mentioned how he knows why doctors use statistics, but it doesn't really matter if the odds are 1 in 10,000,000 if you're the one. So, I've found what I think works and I'm building my challenge goals around that. Ultimately, I have new lab tests coming up in 1 month. I want to get my average blood glucose readings under 105. I'm not going to track that as a challenge goal. I've decided rather to track the process instead of the goal. I believe if I track the process the goal will take care of its self. Carbs under 100 g. I'm not going to concentrate on sugar this time around or even net carbs. Just carbs. My numbers get better the lower my carb intake goes. I'm also not going to use an average for the week. Each day that's under 100 get +1 points, between 100 and 150 is 0 points. Over 150 is -1 points. HIIT workouts 3x/week. These beat the crap out any high numbers I have. For example, on Tuesday before one of these workouts my glucose reading was 143 (highest reading in 2 weeks). Immediately after Tuesday's workout, it was 80. So, these certainly burn up a lot of excess sugar in the blood. The down side is that I'm completely spent afterwards and need some recovery time. So, only 3 per week. +1.5 pt for each workout completed. Fiber over 30 g/day. I'm upping the ante and probably getting into supplementing. Why? Well, first of all 30 g is getting closer to what most people should be consuming. But, someone who is not eating grains really needs to make sure they are getting enough fiber. Plus, on days when this is higher, my blood sugar is lower. So, +1 pt for over 30, 0 pts for 22 - 30 and -1 pt for under 22. Weightlifting 2x/week. These workouts seem to have a bigger impact on blood sugar than long runs or walking does. I'm much better at doing the long runs or walking. Hence, I have no goal for those things since I'm already doing a good job of those. +1.5 pt for each workout. That creates 86 possible points with almost a 2:1 ratio of nutrition to exercise. Nutrition plays the biggest part in this so that ratio feels about right. Grading of this challenge will be as follows: 77 - 86 is an A (this challenge ends on my birthday and includes Easter so there may be a few days of lost nutrition points) 68 - 76 is a B 59 - 67 is a C 52 - 58 is a D 51 or lower is a FAIL Additionally, there may or may not be extra credit granted to the overall score depending on how my A1C test turns out in a month. Let's see how this goes.

Whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo lives in a pineapple under the sea? Gurdris the Imbiber! Flimsy and flabby and lazy is she! Gurdris the Imbiber! If nerdical fitness be something you wish Gurdris the Imbiber! Then drop in the gym, and sweat like a bitch! GURDRIS THE IMBIBER! GURDRIS THE IMBIBER! GURDRIS THE IMBIBER! GURDRIS THE IMBIBER! GURDRIIIIIIIIS THE IMBIBER! Yarr, now that the musical number is out of the way... Main Goal: Become Wonder Woman and maintain the weight loss streak I started when I needed to make my shiny new engagement ring fit. Challenge Goal: Stick to a routine of exercise, fitness and keeping on top of laundry. No more collecting underpants - my fiance needs clean ones. Fitness Complete a streak of 10 unmissed workouts, totalling 20 with my trainer. Workout days are Tuesday and Thursday after work, Sunday morning. Loot: trainer and the co-worker who works out with me offered to pay for my dinner if we go out together after 10 workouts. Nutrition Follow my trainer's diet plan (lean meat and veg, low carb, low fat, no junk). Loot: additional plates, knives and forks for our understocked kitchen Mental Read before bed for at least 30 mins every day, instead of Facebooking in bed. Loot: art supplies Life Do laundry twice a week (folded and put away) Loot: new clothes Bonus challenge: Complete listening to an 8hr audiobook (Foundation by Isaac Asimov). However, it may only be listened to underwater, while swimming laps. No swim, no book. No book... No loot. Loot: Full body massage at the spa. Ohhhh yessssss... I've done challenges before but I'm doing this one after a long time away, so consider it a respawn but I'm adding in the extra 2 because I've already been able to maintain some of these goals for most of a month. Scoring: Mental 20xp Fitness 25xp Nutrition 25xp Life 15xp Bonus 15xp -------------------- Total: 100xp Accountibility: I'll update this Challenge log daily with my successes and/or failures and/or spongebob gifs and/or other gifs/all the gifs / no jifs only gifs.

Here I go again. Re-spawn. Now that I'm married, returned from a fantastic honeymoon and back into the swing of things, some changes have been made and continue to be underway. At my wedding in July 2017, I didn't quite reach my goal weight, but I was happy enough to fit in that dress and still be reasonably passable and not feel like a stuffed sausage. I weighed in at 149, then. After the wedding, Keven and I gained a significant amount of weight back in a short amount of time -- relaxed and eating what we please, little to no exercise, winter hibernation setting in, and having fun on our honeymoon, I ballooned to 173 pounds! Both vowing to go back on the diet when we returned, the first week of January, I since lost 13 pounds at my last weigh in on Feb 3rd, only to gain 9 pounds of it back this last week. It happened to both of us. Burn out and stress. This week I'm refocused and ready to go all the way and so is he. Goal is to get to my goal weight of 135 pounds before my 41st birthday in August. Maybe get pregnant before I'm 42, 43? First, how is it possible to gain 9 pounds in a week, I ask? It can't all be real fat! I can't help but feel that a lot of the weight is water retention, salt and waste (okay BLOATING) and yes of course some stored fat. Today I start the challenge by continuing on our low carb diet, I know the weight will appear to melt off, like 2-3 pounds a day for a week, then I'll start getting into real extra fat loss at least that is my theory, and it will be more like the normal healthy 1-2 pounds a week. I felt I wanted to track my progress again using NerdFitness. Love this place! Thought of it last night and said I'd revisit you today. And what do I find? A new challenge that started today! A serendipitous moment? Hmmmm...well here I go, continuing what I started in January and then some... A new positive attitude going in instead of dreading it. I can say I started off reasonably well by going to bed at 10:30 last night. I woke up early, 10 minutes of yoga, and drank green tea. Did not leave myself enough time for breakfast though. The Challenge Basics: 20 net carbohydrates daily Drink more water Daily morning yoga routine Drawing MINDING THE DETAILS In keeping within the 20 net carb total, in effect training my metabolism to burn fat instead of sugar the following foods are on the list- Avocados, chicken, Beef, Pork, Pepperoni, Turkey, Eggs, Bacon, Salmon, Tuna, Spinach, Kale, Tomatoes, Onions, Celery, Asparagus, Green Beans, Limited variety of nuts and seeds, Blueberries, Blackberries, Greek Yogurt (not the low fat kind), Cheese, Pickles, Jalapenos, Homemade blue cheese dressing, Garlic, Mayonnaise, Olive Oil, Coconut Oil (contingent on affordability), Real Butter, Herb tea, Limited Coffee with cocoa, Stevia, and cream, Water, Seltzer water, 6-12 oz diet Pepsi (now aspartame free!), and limited dark chocolate. One cheat meal every two weeks, or every 6 pounds of weight lost with a conscience effort to keep the portion size reasonable. Drink more water - I have a 32 oz water bottle at work, goal is to drink at least half of it there. Daily 10 minute morning yoga and mindfulness routine - includes coinciding side goals Setting a 10:30 pm bed time curfew Involves actually rolling out of bed at 6:15, 6:30 at the latest 10 minute yoga Mindfulness Drinking green tea Eating breakfast before leaving for work Art and Drawing - also includes coinciding side goals - paves the path towards a longer life-time goal that leads to being a prolific artist, and stoking the fire of artistic passion and inspiration Setting and keeping an hour appointment with myself twice a week, no exceptions, to do nothing but draw something An artist date once a week where I do something artistically whimsical and inspiring Mindfulness Meditation Tomorrow's plan Everything I did today with some mindful effort: Waking earlier Morning Yoga Breakfast before leaving for work Walking to work 7pm - 1 hour of drawing That's it. Here's to a successful day ONE in mental attitude, and doing most of what I set out to do before I even knew there was a challenge starting today.

This time around I am settled in Florida and ready to commit to a challenge. I know I know, this sounds like a broken record the past few challenges. This time I am serious! A big issue is I have a GORUCK Challenge in a week from Friday on the 28th. I have been rucking but I have not been lifting much. I am going to break this challenge into some themes for catching JAWS and assign point values to the categories. Boat In order to catch JAWS I need to have a solid boat. For me this will be my daily home habits. Things like taking the trash out, doing dishes, etc. Some are daily some are weekly on specific days, I track them in habitica so nothing new. Each day I do all of my dailies I earn 5 points. If I do the unpack 15 minutes daily I get a bonus 2 points since I need to finish off unpacking. Strength and Endurance In order to battle JAWS and reel her in I need to build strength and Endurance. To earn points here I will workout daily, 3 rucks and 3 lifts per week with a rest day. Daily sit ups, push ups and stretching included. 10 points for all finished and 2 points bonus for stretching. Bait My Cats, I have a smaller house now and I really need to scoop the poop twice daily. Also they need some food and water and occasional brushing. Daily get them all done, 5 points. Keeping it Together Random tasks. 1 point each, try to do at least one daily. Things like fixing house stuff/boat stuff etc. Food/Drink Each day I don't drink alcohol is 2 points. Each day I eat correctly(2k calories < 100 grams of carbs and one day a week at 150 grams) is 1 point. That is it, each day is potentially worth 27 points + additional random tasks. 33 days counting today. That means I could max at at least 891 points. I am really hoping to just see what percentage I can get of possible points. Obviously the higher the better but I would think 80% would be passing.

Back in my soul guild, the Druids, for my 11th challenge. This time of year is so energising, yet I am free of most obligations (family holidays, regular holidays, productive study, choir practice) - there's nothing much to do except go to work, enjoy the long days, and love life! My overall quest is still to improve my health and body composition. At my recent annual diabetic check-up I was told that, based on my HbA1C, blood lipids and blood pressure values, I could be taken off the diabetic register. I opted to stay on, so I would continue with the annual visits, not only because of my genes (my mum and grandma had it, and so does my older sister), but also because I still have T2D; I'm just controlling it with the strongest medicine, food. I also discovered that I was at the exact same weight as a year ago, 90 kg, putting me at 29 BMI, meaning that I spent the whole year yo-yoing 5 kilos. On the positive side, a recent DEXA scan showed that I have built a lot of muscle mass too, and that my bones are stronger than average (so I really am big-boned, LOL!) For this challenge, then, I am going to FLOW: Fit and Strong Weights in the gym 3 x week (one session allowed to swap for a kettlebell workout at home) Walk to Mordor, a.k.a. work - I'm under 600 km, which means I should hit Mount Doom before Xmas! Loving Nourishment Eat a fully ketogenic diet, meaning no carbs whatsoever except lots of green leafy and summer watery veg (or small amounts of other, non-carby veg); moderate protein and high fat, all from real food (no powders/gels/liquids or sweeteners); keep recording everything on Fitday No snacks between/after meals (this is difficult!) Intermittent Fasting 3 x week - this goes well with keto, and I have already made a great start last challenge; hoping to push on until the second half of August, when we go away for 2 weeks and the schedule will have to change. Weigh myself the day before travelling. Open Study Go through the dozen or so books that I have amassed to read during the break between my 2 years of MA in Classical Studies; hopefully identify a few topics of strong interest with a view of developing one of them for my dissertation in a year's time Complete the free FutureLearn course on the Health and Wellbeing in the Ancient World that ties in with my MA Weekly Dates Lurve - prioritising some quality time with Mr V. Money - set a regular hour to look at boring admin things such as moving/consolidating accounts, checking the small print, reading a finance book, etc. Thanks for reading, and let's go do it!

Placeholder / Draft If Christian Bale and Sean Bean can use Gun Kata, then I can have a challenge using Keto Kata ... flying meat, destroying bread... who knows - but "it has been broughten!" GOALZZZZZZZZZZ: FAT LOSS (would like to lose it and never find it again) 1) 4 Weeks of Calorie Restricted KETO: shooting for <50g carbs per day, over 150g protein, and control fat to stay under total 1,750 cals (increasing if I find myself more active than normal - I exist primarily behind a desk or the wheel of a car 2) 3-4 strength workouts per week doing NF Academy - bodyweight level 3 workouts 3) Daily - Get at least 30 minutes walking (bonus points for exceeding 10,000 steps) LIFE GOAL: Get through 3 investment books (beneficial to both work and personal goals That's it - and whatever images / GIFs I can conjure that illustrate Keto Kata - the art of blocking carbs and getting a SICK body (pronounced "sih-eh-ick" I think) by shedding fat GOALS DONE - draft done - here we go

Last Edit: 4-Feb-2015 After starting this thread, I was informed that what I am doing is known as a Protein Sparing Modified Fast (PSMF). I am constantly consulting The Oracle (Google) to find out more about this subject and modify the diet plan as approriate. As of right now here is how I am planning on executing the diet: I am still learning more about it as the days go on. Based off of what I have learned so far, I will be trying the following diet/exercise plan: Every day my goal will be to consume 140 G of protein. I will cycle 2 days of nothing but protein shakes and fiber powder. 144G Protein, 10G Fat, 6G Sugar 30G Fiber, 738-ish Calories on a shake day the calorie count will be slightly higher - by how much depends on how you calculate the calories from fiber. This figured incorporates the calories from the 4mg of fish oil I will take. Every 3 days I will have have a big ol' egg white omelet made from 4-ish egg whites with spinach, red peppers, mushrooms and jalapenos. In addition I will eat a whole egg as well as a big plate of fresh spinach or lettuce, red peppers, cucumber, a couple of green olives, and about a big handful of salted mixed nuts. I will also have protein shakes to get my required grams of protein. Every other "food cycle" I will have a little bit of cantaloupe (half a cup-ish) and a banana in addition to the omelet, plate of low-carb veggies, olives, and nuts. I will take a multivitamin twice a day with food or a protein shake and a 2mg fish oil capsule. I will continue to workout as normal - Lift 6 days a week and cycle between running 3 miles and doing sprints (ideally 3 days a week). I have a hard time motivating myself to do cardio, so I often find excuses to not run. I will work on becoming more consistent. Before I lift or run I will take 10G of BCAAs. I will drink tons of water, and lots of tea. FOR THE EMPEROR!!!!! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here is the original post which led me down the path to discovering PSMF (Thanks Hazard) Hey everyone! This is the result of something I was mulling over in my head, and then spending about a week reading a bajilliondy different articles on nutrition, fat loss, muscle growth, carbohydrates, fats, etc etc etc.... TLDR version: Perhaps the best body recomposition (lose fat, gain muscle) thing to do is to focus on eating 1 Gram of protein per lb. of body weight per day, and then minimize both fat and carbohydrate intake while lifting heavy things and then putting them back down??? Note: I will be eating egg whites, chicken, beef, fish, and using protein shakes as needed to hit my 1G protein/lb/day goal while drinking copious amounts of water and tea (Earl Grey and Black Currant, both made by Twinings – it’s more to help keep me from boredom snacking than anything else). I am stuck with cafeteria style dining at the moment and cannot make my own food so I will be getting some carbs/fat as well but will limit them to only what I get as a byproduct of eating the aforementioned foods. Once I hit my desired body fat % (basically I want to look like Deadpool) I will add other foods for maintenance. Perhaps I could live off of just meat, but variety is the spice of life so I will be throwing in other food items once I get to a maintenance phase. Other people have a lot to say about why cardio isn’t the best thing for weight loss. Other people have a lot to say about why heavy weight training (4-6-ish reps for 3-ish sets) is best for increasing muscle strength/mass. Other people have a lot to say about why lifting to get gainz is better for fat loss than cardio for the same amount of time. I am a fan boy (not really, I have a mind more open than Olaf’s arms when administering warm hugs) of the aforementioned things… but I am just here to pose the following question and give my best guess as to the answer: SO…. a certain bit of dietary advice had always confused me, specifically the concept of caloric surplus/deficit in relation to muscle growth. Basically I keep reading that I cannot put on muscle if I eat fewer calories than my body needs in a day and you cannot lose fat when in a caloric surplus. The question: Can I lose fat while gaining muscle on a low calorie diet where I eat 1G Protein/Lb Bodyweight/Day and eating as little fat/carbs as possible? My body needs protein to build muscle. So I will eat lots of amino acids (the building blocks of protein). My body also needs energy to carry on all its myriad of functions (including building muscle). My body already has plenty of energy stored as fat. I can understand why I would need more building blocks to make new muscle, but I already have plenty of energy saved up. Why do I need to eat more energy? Why does using up my energy stores (IE the fat) prevent me from putting on muscle? The energy is already there in my body waiting to be used…. The body seems to me to be pretty efficient and does not appear to want to waste things, especially energy. Now, you can literally piss away glucose at times, but I’ve never read anything that shows this happening in significant amounts in healthy individuals. SO – according to conventional wisdom, it is impossible to put on muscle while eating fewer calories than your body needs to meet its daily energy needs. That doesn’t make sense to me. Why you ask? Well… most of us have huge energy reserves, I.E. fat. Fat is where your body stores the *VAST* amount of its energy. Sure, the body can breakdown muscle (NOTE ON THIS: I have not found any information on exactly when this happens. Since this would seem like a last-ditch sort of thing, I imagine that the body will tap into its fat before eating away at the muscle for energy in significant amounts. I have also heard that consumption of protein and exercise can stave this off, which is why I would want to keep up with the whole 1 G of protein per pound of body weight per day thing. If anyone can point me in the direction of some good information on when muscle cannibalization occurs, I would like it). There seem to be limits on how much muscle a person can put on. Our ability to put on fat appear to be limitless (people can weigh over 1,000 pounds). Our body obviously likes to, and will, easily use fat as an energy storage depot (really more like energy storage medium, but storage depot rolls off the tongue (fingers?) so well….). With this said, just because I don’t consume as many calories in a day as my body needs for all of its various functions does not mean that I do not have energy available. You can live off of your fat stores for a hot minute (here is a link to a report on an obese man whom fasted for a year under the care of a doctor http://pmj.bmj.com/content/49/569/203.short). Glucose is not an “essential nutrient†meaning that you do not have to consume glucose to live. You need glucose to live, but your body can produce it in sufficient amounts to live without you having to eat extra (google gluconeogenesis for more info – there isn’t a whole lot unfortunately). Supposedly you can make 150 G of glucose a day (http://www.marksdailyapple.com/a-metabolic-paradigm-shift-fat-carbs-human-body-metabolism/#axzz1za02xNxp – Go to the paragraph “So How Much Glucose Do You Really Need?†near the bottom. He doesn’t cite the source for this, and I have not been able to find any research backing it up myself. If someone can find something supporting/rejecting this number, *please* send me a link ). Anyways, unless you are doing some hardcore crossfit thing, doing some crazy bicycling thing, etc etc etc your body will keep up with whatever you are trying to do (Note: This isn’t a fault of gluconeogenesis… People can eat carbz for dayz and still run into these issues with extreme feats of humaning). If you are worried it can’t, then eat a little carbs right before/during the event as needed just to get you through. Your body only has about a teaspoon-ish of glucose floating around in the blood (this is closely regulated by the body) and can store about about 400 grams of glycogen (glycogen gets converted into glucose) in the muscles (I imagine this number varies a bit from person to person based on muscle mass) and about 100 grams of glycogen in the liver (again, probably varies a bit from person to person, but I imagine the biggest variance in individuals come from muscle stores of glycogen). http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/body-store-excess-calories-9627.html (not a direct link to the study which was conducted by Iowa State, a thousand pardons…). There are certain parts of your body which like glucose… the brain, for example, *needs* glucose (even when adapted to using ketones, it still needs 50% of its energy to come from glucose (UGH – Of course I cannot find a source for this now… Fear not though citizen I read it on the internet, so it must be true.. For cereal though, again, if anyone can find anything supporting/rejecting this, feel free to let me know! ) I think our blood glucose levels are pretty much just for the brain, but that is simply a guess with nothing to support it other than observations and my little bit of knowledge of how the body works… With that said, there are parts of your body that like ketones (cardiac muscle). A lot of your cells can use either glucose or ketones for energy once they become “adapted†(which supposedly takes a couple of weeks. I am not even gonna lie – I am getting burned out at the moment with googling things… If someone thinks that my aforementioned statement is wrong then at that point I will go verify it’s rightness or discover is wrongness). SO…. This is a little all over the place, but I think it’s a great starting point for a discussion…. Low Carb…. Low Fat…. Why not both?? https://literatastrophe.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/screen-shot-2012-11-08-at-6-08-31-pm.png As I stated before, I cannot get as low fat or low carb as I would like in my current situation, but I will start implementing this as of today (2-Feb-2015) and post pictures, weight, and tape measurements of different body parts (sorry, I do not have calipers yet… :\) as well as a log of what I eat everyday (with super guesstimated portions). Oh – a note on ketoacidosis… This is a disease state present in diabeetus-ified individuals…. IE their body forgot how to insulin properly. Supposedly insulin helps regulate ketones (this is argued a lot by science-ey people (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/749914). Protein stimulates insulin release (http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/72/1/96.full). So, I should not go into ketoacidosis since my body knows how to insulin. However, I will keep an eye out for signs of ketoacidosis (unfortunately I do not have the capability to run labs on myself). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I will post weekly updates. When I take pictures they are done with relaxed muscles, full exhaled breath. For the measurements: They are done with muscles relaxed, the fixed end of the tape measure (a plastic tape measure intended for use by a tailor) will remained pinned in place against my body while the free end is pulled tight. I close my eyes and let the free end slip through my fingers until it is barely snug against my body. I will re tighten and let it go loose 3 times before opening my eyes and taking note of the measurement. I purposefully keep things in 8ths. When doing measurements on the torso I do it with a fully exhaled breath, and take 3 measurements (everything is so squishy I have a hard time getting accurate results, so I don't want to rely on just one measurement). Here are the exact locations I measure: Neck - Widest point (over the peak of the adam's apple) Chest - Just under the nipples Bicep - Widest point (no landmark) Forearm - Widest point (no landmark) Waist - Narrowest point (which happens to be my last rib) Belly - Widest point of my pooch (which is just below my belly button) Butt - Widest point (I kind of figure out through trial and error where this this, there is no specific landmark) Upper Thigh (this is the widest point of the fatty area of my thigh. No landmark) Mid Thigh (this is the widest point of the muscular area of my thigh. No landmark) Calf (This is the widest point of my calf. No landmark) I do more exercises than just the ones listed... for sake of not having too much info here I will only post a few lifts. I will fill out a more comprehensive log at a later date and link it to this post. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2-Feb-2015 - (NOTE: I know this was not ideal but I took all of these measurements just before dinner. In the future I will do them first thing in the morning when I wake up) Weight - 141.9 pounds Neck - 15" | 14 7/8" | 15" Chest - 33 2/8" | 33 1/8" | 32 7/8" Bicep - 11 7/8" Forearm - 9 7/8" Waist - 29 2/8" | 29 3/8 " | 29 3/8" Belly - 32 7/8" | 33" | 32 6/8" Butt - 24" Upper Thigh - 40.5"" Mid Thigh - 43" Calf - 14 3/8" http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/gallery/image/9974-2feb15-front/ http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/gallery/image/9975-2feb15-side/ Deadlift: 150lbs 8r 3 Set (working on form) CHANGE: N/A Pullup: (On assist machine): -35lbs 7, 5, 4 Reps CHANGE: N/A Dumbbell Bench Press: 65lbs 4 reps, 65lbs 3 reps, 60 lbs 4 reps CHANGE: N/A Dip: 25lbs 5 reps for 3 sets CHANGE: N/A Squat (butt to calves): 135lbs 5 reps, 135lbs 7 reps, 135lbs 6 reps CHANGE: N/A Standing Shoulder Dumbbell Press: N/A CHANGE: N/A +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Hey folks. I'm transitioning to 50 carbs a day or so, and I'm looking for some insights. I say transitioning because I already have some legumes and yogurt that I don't intend to waste. Even so, I've definitely stayed below 75g a day for a few days. So lets say for the sake of a foundation that I'm in about a week of low carb, and day 3 of very low carb. And I guess I'm entering this stage of "low carb flu". Previously, I was eating probably 150g of carbs a day MAXIMUM, getting most of those extras from oatmeal, fruit, and beans/legumes. The problem right now is that I can't be satiated. This is a meal I just ate about an hour ago: 1 Grassfed Beef Patty 1/2 Cali Avocado (sm) 1 cup or more Veggies .5 tbsp (roughly) butter That clocks in at just under 500 calories and Im still terribly hungry. Last month, I was eating carbs at 1 - 2 meals a day, (mainly legumes and oatmeal and sprouted bread), snacking on fruit, and eating almost no fat. (I was on the eggwhite/chicken/broccoli/carb/lots of cardio cutting diet) But I was almost never hungry... even coming in at a daily total of 1600cals (I'm 6', 170lbs). Is this just my body adjusting to using fat energy? That's what I'm assuming... If so, should I fight the pangs to prepare my body for reality, or just go all in and eat as much as I want during this transition period? I don't want to get used to eating 3500 calories a day, (gotta keep cutting - getting to my fighting weight) but I'm cool with doing it for awhile. I should also add that so far today is the most active Ive been on my new LCHF 'diet', and maybe thats contributing? I've walked a few miles and gone to my boxing training for an hour.

My Story? Hmmm. Well, my real name is Stan, also known as Ziggy and my online persona is Axiel (pronounced Ah-shell, don’t drop the S ). Currently 50 years old, (6 ft) 255 ish lbs. (Down from 270 4 weeks ago). I’m a 30+ yr Type 1 diabetic that’s been reasonably well controlled with no major complications as yet, other than a slight neuropathy (numbness) in the feet and frozen shoulders (which until recently I didn’t know was a complication from diabetes). For all this time I’ve been following the standard dietary advice of my dietician and endo, and generally gained 2-3 lbs a year. The few times I’ve tried ‘dieting’, always ended disastrously as I found trying to balance insulin and high carb meals to be almost impossible. (Standard dietary recommendation for diabetics from both the American & Canadian Diabetes Association is along the lines of 60-70g carbs per meal plus 2-3 snacks, and avoid all fats – boy is that bad advice ) So, about 5 years ago, just after turning 45 I suffered a minor heart attack (MI), with no permanent damage, and a follow-up angiogram indicating two additional ‘future’ blockages currently at about 35%. At that point I was terrified to do anything exercise wise, and dieting was still difficult for me to break out of my established eating / insulin regimen. Shortly after turning 50 earlier this year, I was almost defeated, I would get up, eat breakfast, go to work, come home, eat supper, sit in front of the TV for the rest of the night, and repeat. Weekends weren’t much different, except I’d be in front of the TV more, and I finally had the simple realization that if I kept on the same path, I would be lucky to see my 55th birthday. Since I was never successful dieting, but I knew there had to be others that had been, lets just say my life changed with a simple google search ‘lose weight as a type 1 diabetic’. The search results from this exposed me to tons of research which I’ve devoured over the last few months, and has led me to adopt a low-carb diet. For anyone interested, an excellent starting point would be to lookup ‘Dr. Bernstien’s Diabetes Solution’. I won’t get into details here, but send me a note if you want. So adopting this style of eating (wasn’t too difficult for me as I was also diagnosed celiac 10yrs ago, so cutting the rest of the processed carbs out of my diet wasn’t a big deal), has already seen some weight loss over the last month, but more importantly, much better controlled blood sugars. For those curious my target is 4.6mmol/L or 83mg/dl (for the math nerds, that’s a conversion factor of 18). My plans as I see them now are to: 1. Reach and maintain a 30 day avg blood glucose of 4.6, 2. Bring my HgA1C down to under 5% 3. Reach an eventual target weight of ~180 lbs 4. Get my 1st degree black belt in Taekwon-do (long range, still waiting to meet with instructor about shoulder injuries) I’m quite introverted by nature, and really have to work to put myself out there, but I hope to bring a level of dedication to the community to be able to help and encourage others with their journeys. I'd love to follow along any other T1 or T2's journeys (well anyone's journey to be honest), so introduce yourself and we can journey together. I haven't found much in the way of discussion here regarding this lifestyle for diabetics, and I really hope we can change that, cause diabetics can do everything 'normal' people can. Now to see what I want to do for my first challenge and battle log. tldr; 50yrs old, 30yr Type 1 diabetic, time to get off my ass and do something about my health and life. Oh, and 25xp to anyone that can name the game where my online name came from.

Thank you for allowing me to join the Rebellion! Leia Cruz here, starting over my fitness journey once again...this time as a middle ager, and it is a lot harder!! Looking forward to getting some support via these forums. I need something new to motivate me and get me off the couch. I am a 46 year old educator who is a nerd at heart. I'm not a gamer, but I love a good sci fi book or movie series. My faves are Star Wars franchise and all of the Tolkien-based movies. Give me a starship or a hobbit hole, and I am a happy girl. I recently started cutting carbs and have set a goal to eat Paleo for a month. Hoping to get food ideas here as well as "hacks" because I am on the lazy side when it comes to cooking. I have lost 10 lbs since November, but have set a lofty goal to lose 10 more by the end of the school year. (May 31st).

I haven't passed a challenge in a long time. Like since my original account two years ago I went back and looked at what I did then, to see what the difference was, and I only noticed two differences. 1) Successful challenges weren't splitting my energy multiple ways. EVERY goal on the challenge had something to do with losing weight, and they worked together really well. So as much as I liked my 'adulting/self care' goal from last time, I'm going to ditch it in favor of the tried and true cardio/strength/diet recipe. 2) I had a lot of interactions with my support network. I was a member of a group of like 8 or so newbies (The Pirate Lasses or something) who had a roleplaying group going. So we had this separate thread going where we were roleplaying this fun pirate adventure together, which meant that I was on the forums posting sometimes multiple times a day. And since everybody was already on for the pirate adventure, we'd all support each other on our challenges too. But I don't think it was the support that made the difference, (though of course it helped) because I've still got support now. I think it was the fact that I was constantly on the forums because of the roleplay, keeping my challenge and my goals at the forefront of my mind while also forcing me to be accountable - can't really get away with fading away on the challenge if you're still pirating. I tried to rally interest for a NF D&D group, since that would be very similar, but nobody was really into it... & I know I can't just be like, oh, well I'll just have to get on the forums a lot, because I've tried that, and after a week or so lose interest in scouring the boards. So... I'm at a bit of a loss... I've got a Life Quest idea that might hopefully maybe help with the accountability/constant reminder thing... but idk. Maybe I ought to look for a weight loss meetup or join a weight watchers group, so that I'll have to physically show up to something? Idk. If you have ideas, PLEASE SHARE. Anywho, I like having an excuse to post gifs and pictures of things that I like, SO. Theme is World of Warcraft, because let's admit it, it should've been WoW a long time ago xD Main Quest - Lose 6 pounds. I figure, 'they' say you should be able to healthily lose up to 2 pounds/week, and 1 pound/week is supposed to be low-key, so I'd like to aim for 1.5/week. I really gotta drop what I gained over the holidays... I've never been this fat before, literally ever. Goals 1. Swim like a Naga - Swim 3x a week. 2. Strong as an Orc - Strength workouts 2x a week. 3. Eat like an Elf - Eat 1500-1600 kcal of home cooked food every day. Life Quest Insta-famous - Post something diet/weight loss/exercise/health related daily to my secondary Instagram account. @ljaybirdfly (lame name, I know, but all combos of my username and fit were already taken... and I figured, I like aerials, so... w/e) Please follow me so I feel like I've got people holding me accountable. Measurements Height: 5'9" Weight: 210 lbs T-T Waist: 34.5" Hips: 46.5" Thigh: 29" Grading Each goal will be graded weekly & be worth 30% of that week's total grade. Life Points are no longer extra credit as that provided little incentive for me to actually DO said Life Quest. Instead, the Life Quest will also be graded, worth 10% of the week's total grade. My final grade will be the average of all four weeks. I need to make at least a B (80%) to pass the challenge. Swim like a Naga - scored as a percentage of completed swims (side note, I'm super irritated I couldn't find a decent gif or even picture of a naga swimming. They're water creatures, stop having pictures of them out of the water or just chilling on the ocean floor. *rage* oh well, you get the gist) Strong as an Orc - Scored as a percentage of completed workouts. Eat like an Elf - 14 points total. 1/day for meeting calories. 1/day for the food all being home cooked. I liked my point loss system from last time, so I'm keeping it with an adjustment: every 200 kcal over limit is -1 points and every not home-made meal/snack is -1 points. So I can't forget lunch, have to buy from the cafeteria, then get home and be like OH WELL MAY AS WELL ORDER. Also, I can't overeat and be like OH WELL, MAY AS WELL STUFF MY FACE. Insta-Famous- 7 points total. 1/day. (oh yeah, that's right. For those not in the know, you can totally take selfies in WoW xD No, I will not count any WoW selfies towards this goal, haha) Exceptions - If I get REALLY sick, I can be exempt. But I have to be SUPER DUPER sick. So sick that I can't even walk for 15 minutes or do a little bit of cooking. I seriously doubt I'll get that sick. *knocks on wood* Motivation I WANT THOSE DAMN SYLVANAS LEGGINGS. OMG. GIVE THEM TO ME. T-T Also, Bangarang just released a new set called Dragonskin and I want ALL OF THEM. So if I get an A and/or lose more than 6 pounds, I can have one of them. I kinda want Deathwing (black) or maybe Alexstrasza (red). Or all Malygos(blue). Or Ysera(green). Or Nozdormu(yellow). I WANT THEM ALL. Tracker Swim like a Naga Strong as an Orc Eat like an Elf Insta Total Week 1: 0% 0% 0/14 0/7 0% Week 2: 0% 0% 0/14 0/7 0% Week 3: 0% 0% 0/14 0/7 0% Week 4: 0% 0% 0/14 0/7 0%

CHALLENGE LOG Earth Date: December the First, Two Thousand Sixteen. This month marks One Year since I first began my voyage into the unknown frontier of becoming healthy. I joined the Rebellion and never looked back! I have learned many things over this past year and have shared in many failures as well as successes. In all I have gone so far from 200 pounds down to 165. This year I hope to get down to about 140 and maintain. I have gone from size 18 pants down to 12 and hope to get to 8 by this time next year. I have learned that there are no short cuts and that slow, small progresses add up in the end. I have just begun the second attempt at reaching the Healthy Frontier. My previous attempts were thwarted by the stresses that life has to bestow so generously upon my family. Having recovered and found myself ten pounds heavier, I have researched the problem areas and laid out a fresh course to begin anew. Moving forward for the month of December, I will be following a strict health plan that is laid out in detail below. It is designed to start with the basics and will build once Mastery of Basics has been confirmed. An "X" indicated goal was achieved. DIET 1: Maintain caloric deficit as tracked using application name MyFitnessPal. Notate every item ingested, regardless of size (example: "just a bite.") Allot additional daily caloric intake based upon additional physical activity tracked via the personal fitness transponder, herafer referred to as "FitBit." Remain in "Green Zone" to achieve best results. | X X X _ _ _ X | _ X X _ _ _ _ | _ _ _ _ _ _ X | _ _ _ _ X _ _ | DIET 2: Follow paleo-centric nutrition plan for optimal health. Alot for one non-paleo item per day (example cereal or hot dog bun) to allow for smoother transition, maintaining resolve to lifestyle changes, and legitimize the longevity of follow through. This is not crash and burn mission, this is a change in my relationship to food. Many small changes over time. | _ X _ _ _ _ _ | _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | _ _ _ _ _ X X | _ _ _ _ X _ _ | FITNESS: Increase endurance while in the recesses of space by meeting daily step goals as laid out by my FitBit. Estimated daily goal will be approximately 5-6 miles. | X X X X X _ X | X X X _ _ _ _ | _ _ _ _ _ _ X | _ _ _ _ X _ _ | LIFE: Use off duty time effectively by allotting at least one hour daily towards yarn projects. The holidays are coming and there are 4 items that MUST be completed. Do something for 1 Hour that brings me happiness. This can be crocheting, watching a movie with the hubby, spending time on the rebellion forum and listening to good music. Anything that I find enjoyable and relaxing. | X X X X X X X | X X X _ _ _ _ | _ _ _ _ _ X X | _ _ _ X X _ _ |

Intro: I had a productive first year in NF, and then the wheels came off. Amidst the perfect storm of mental and physical burnout, injuries and illness, family and work stresses, I went into a bit of a dark place. I went back to bad habits of eating like crap, making excuses not to exercise and isolating myself from everyone. It took longer than it should have for me to recognise and confront those issues, but I’ve done that over the last couple of challenges, and I feel like I’m getting back to a better place. This challenge, I’ll start the transition towards becoming more active again. QUEST 1: Fitness Now that the injuries and aches are subsiding, it’s time to start moving again. Light cardio, light weights, three times per week. No targets just yet, this is just about forcing myself to walk through the doors of the gym again. Points available: +2 DEX, +2 STA QUEST 2: Fuel Don’t Eat and Drink Like a DickheadTM. Continue the carb purge. No energy drinks. Limit the red wine to alternate weekends. Points available: +5 CON QUEST 3: Felicity A healthy body must work in tandem with a healthy mind. Look after what’s upstairs, by any means necessary. Sleep, meditate, ASMR, sit under a tree, stroke a pet, cook, read a book, take a bath. Continue the “must do” task, take a leaf out of Spooky’s book and list three things I’m grateful for on a daily basis. Points available: +3 WIS QUEST 4: Finesse Continue to explore my creative side. Keep painting, and share the results, good, bad or indifferent, on here. Maybe try some drawing again, too. Keep updating the tumblr here with the output. Points available: +3 CHA

Hey! I took a short break but now I'm back to crush some goals. I recently started the Keto diet (I hate that it's called a diet since it's much more than that) and while I dreaded having to give up my bread and pasta, things are going well for me. I've been making simple meals and haven't cheated once! It's only been two weeks but so far I'm down 7lbs and I feel great. What I like about this way of eating is it is totally something I can do long time. Even if I do decide to have something that has a large number of carbs, I can jump back on the Keto train the next day and keep going. Anyway, here are my goals for this challenge -- 1. Exercise at least 3x/wk -- I am going to be starting a Kettle Bell program and will be running also. 2. 100oz. water per day -- I've been doing pretty good at getting my water in but really need to focus on meeting my goals. 3. Stay within my Keto macros -- I have my numbers set in MFP so it's easy to keep track. 4. Meet StepBet numbers -- StepBet is like DietBet but for steps (lol, duh right?) I have to reach, 9,277 4x/wk, and 12,913 2x/wk. I get one rest day. Those are my goals for now and I may add a couple more.

Bullet Points: -I am officially 30 (and a couple days) but someone said something about a "bone doctor" today and I snickered, so I fully admit age can be a very relative construct in some cases. -I officially told my job about moving to Colorado. They were surprisingly supportive and happy for me and appreciative of my work here. No timeline is set, I told them that I'm flexible and willing to extend my notice quite a bit and that I don't have anything lined up yet in CO, that I still intend on leaving the position in good shape despite being horrendously in the weeds on a lot of projects right now and they were really warm about it all. I mentioned that I'd love to be remote too and they said there wasn't a precedent for that in my position but they'd look into it, which is more than the flat NO I expected. All told everything is as much up in the air as it ever was, but I'm feeling a lot better about having it out in the open and I think that aspect makes all possibilities more workable, so I'm happy. -My birthday was good. I actually told my job about stuff on my birthday, so that was an interesting day. Then I went and treated myself to some shopping. I bought prenatal vitamins and a neurobiology text book, so if your birthday is any summation of where your life is, I don't know what to tell you. Some people surprised me for dinner, so that was nice of them, since I hadn't bothered making plans with anyone, and then I spent the evening calling/texting/social media-ing people back that'd wished me a happy birthday. All told I'm quite pleased with myself in this regard as usually having to return a bunch of phone calls and Facebook messages makes me really overwhelmed and anxious and I end up avoiding doing it for like a week and then I get more anxious and finally respond and feel like an asshole for taking so long. So yeah, I feel like a functioning adult, sort of. -I'm newly in ketosis (I think? I haven't gotten any ketostix to check yet) and it's going pretty well. My reasoning was mostly that I wanted a stricter eating parameter because I've had a lot of trouble with consistency and even when I manage to track and keep calories on the level, some days I still end up with a lot of sugar, some days not, and I think it's all just contributing to a lot of headaches, not feeling well, and overall difficulty staying on routine. I've felt a little better so hopefully this helps. If nothing else, I hope it keeps me more consistent because I don't want to have to get back into ketosis. It hasn't been easy during a birthday week but not nearly as hard as I expected. It's restrictive enough to keep me overthinking about it. -Challenge stuff to be updated. (5/18 edit) Challenge Stuff Update! I dedicate this challenge to Sleep, that elusive seductress. My methods remain pretty consistent, but I am going to try to approach them with intent towards sleeping better, sleeping more, and being more restful. -Keto- continue to track food and keep carbs low. The aim is 20-25 net carbs a day. I actually feel much better on VLC, I think keeping tight reins works better for me. And I definitely feel very awake and lucid with bulletproof coffee so onwards on this front. -Drink all the water- Aim is 100 oz a day. Partly because keto demands it, but it definitely feels better and if I chug water right before bed it's good insurance that I'll be out of bed first thing in the morning. -Work hard, play hard, sleep hard- Aim is some activity daily. Still an inconsistent one for me, and it being 100+ F at night doesn't help, but I envy my dog that sprints her heart out and then conks out for a nap and is off running in her dreams, all within a span of 20 minutes. Exercise helps me sleep. I need help sleeping. -The little extras- multivitamin and omega 3s nightly, figure out a better study schedule for German, continue to chip away at projects at work and get to Colorado.

So, I cannot claim this recipe, I found it on pinterest (I know, how basic of me) and thought I would give it a go. I made a single serving though, and used only one chicken breast (so I roughly cut the ingredients in thirds... yes, even the egg) But let me just say... I AM IN NO GUILT PIZZA HEAVEN! It had all the yummy qualities of pizza, the texture was nice, and can we talk about all that protein? AND I AM SO FULL! Pizza never leaves me full. I love it so much, but I'm always still so hungry afterwards. I HIGHLY recommend anyone give it a go. http://www.surfandsunshine.com/guilt-free-chicken-crust-pizza-recipe/

Hello you all. So I committed to doing a long distance run (marathon) later this year and as I'm planing my training's I am looking in diet for running too. I lost a lot of weight doing low-carb and am really pleased with the low-carb lifestyle but running traditionally is a sport where you eat a lot of carbs (especially before races). So since researching online didn't really brought any results I'm going to take it to the community...so: -Have you done long distant running while on a low-carb or similar diet and what where your take away's from it? -What diet tipps would you give to someone preparing for long distant running that also wants to keep the weight loosing going? -Any books/websites/podcasts/whatever with running and diet that you can recommend? Thank you in advance for sharing your wisdom with me

Lessons learned last time around, here we go again! Build Arms - Weighted chin ups 1x/wk (or more), 500 push-ups/wk (+Dex, +Str) I love chin ups. Currently I'm at 5-5-3 for chin-ups with an #18 KB on a belt. I'd like to add one rep every week. The push-ups are a continuation of what I did in that challenge earlier this year. Yeah, I know they're more of a chest thing... but I'll do some handstand holds/lowers to make up for it. Some day, I'll be busting them out like this girl Get running - at least one run a week, aiming for 3 miles. (+Sta, +Dex for trail runs) I'm going to need to really work on my PT to make this feasible. I was just up to 3-ish mi last time I went... but I think this will be a good foundation for building distance. Build off what I learned from the last challenge about what I should be eating. (+Wis, +Cons) At some level, it's all "IIIFYM." Truth is, I'm a carboholic. Not a Carbivore, like I thought. I don't need sugar, but I crave it. When I get a little bit in my system, I spiral out of control. I need to continue to build up my toolbox for figuring out how to deal with that, especially in social situations. I'm going to target 50g carbs/day, max 100g. That's what I found to be good the last time around. It's also consistent with the stuff on Mark's Daily Apple website. Avoid sugars (light on the fruit, occasional dark chocolate), avoid bread and super-starches, eat hordes of protein, and fill in the rest with yummy fats (butter, coconut butter, almond butter... bacon!). Log DAILY on MFP! The Checklist Schedule the "girl's weekend" for my little sister's bachelorette party Hit ketosis for a day (or two) Have a Solomo sandwich Hike a new trail Get the gun Go Shooting. Visit my grandparents (Oh, Canada!) I was successful in posting on NF more than 40x during the last challenge. I'm over 1000 posts lifetime! Goal: hit 1100 posts by the end of April.

I am an adventuring ranger. Crossfit is usually most of my workouts, but the last 7 months have been off due to my work schedule including a lot of late night work. I have a big trek coming up in September. And just agreed to my first backpacking trip in March. Due to various reasons I have lost strength and cardiovascular endurance. My goal in this challenge is to continue making progress on my weight loss goal. I got a BodPod test last week and it said I am 44% fat so I need to whittle that down. It will certainly help my knees when hiking. And to train toward my trekking and backpacking trips. I have purchased the book The Outdoor Athlete and am reviewing its recommendation for backpacking training. I plan on doing the core workout from Training for the New Alpinism though. Eat at least 1800. The calories are a minimum goal as I have a tendency to undereat alternated by less common overeating days. Eat no more than 105g carbs. I can go over on carbs on physically demanding days to replenish my body. But only adding in another 20-30g tops. I am putting together a training program. 4 days of cardio work or walking. 1 hike a week. Core workout twice a week. 2 strength training days a week to focus on leg imbalances. It might be a bit much with my work schedule. We shall see. Work will be pretty busy for a little while, possibly for the whole of this challenge. So my life goal is to get rest when I can. And get through my to do list of things I need to do this month to prepare for my trips. There is about 10 items on that list right now and it will likely grow.

☆☆☆ Challenge 3 ☆☆☆ • Collapsing to the ground with a thud, I let out a strained sigh, "Why, why did she find me and then let me go? I don't think she even followed..." my stomach growls in agreement. That pack had everything I thought I needed in it. Ideas, notions, even some books and now it is all gone. I ran because I thought I needed to but have instead found myself more lost than before. Finally I sit up, brush some dirt off my knees, and look at my dirty stone hands. These hands fold into weak fists, drop back packs, and tremble seemingly without reason. For a moment frustration overwhelms me, "What am I doing?" Shame stings me and I shake my head in disbelief. "No, I can't think like that." These hands create, hold others, and grip with intention. They may not be strong but they are mine. • ☆ Main story: Lose 90lbs Quest 1 Do Something: Physical activity 3x a week - Last challenge I learned I am a jerk to myself. So to prove I learned something, I have decided to ditch the daily activities and keep it weekly and vague to help accomodate my disabilities and special talent for getting ill. That being said, I do basically nothing so at this point ANYTHING is better than nothing. For fun I made a random exercise bag full of various exercises on folded bits of paper. Keeps things fresh. c: (09/12 +3STR, 07/12 +2STR, 05/12 +1STR) ☆ 100% earns me $10 towards my Bethesda wishlist Quest 2 Eat Better: 80/20 Primal and 100g carbs or less - I love primal eating but tend to suck at the carbs thing. So I'm aiming for 100g or less to help keep that sucker down. I tend to be very all or nothing when it comes to sugars so I am trying to learn balance. We'll see. -crosses fingers- (25/28 +3CON/+1CHA, 22/28 +2CON/+1CHA, 19/28 +1CON) ☆ 100% earns me $15 towards my Bethesda wishlist Quest 3 Keep Going Forward: Walk 25miles during this challenge - Originally I intended to beat my last mileage but then the challenges were changed to 4 weeks so instead I have combined my PVP goals and threw on a few extra miles. More specifically I am trying to assess my mileage so I can better execute this sort of challenge later. (20/25mi +3STA, 15/25mi +2STA, 10/25mi +1STA) ☆ $.20 per mile towards my Bethesda wishlist Current stats: X ☆Motivation: 1. I want to be a good example for my sisters and future children 2. To optimally manage my mental health 3. I want a healthy relationship with food 4. I want to be more comfortable in my skin 5. To be able to better participate in walks, hikes, and other outdoorsy things I once enjoyed 6. To be able to be pregnant safely and have the energy to play with my child (disclaimer: I have jacked up ankles and very literally weak core muscles that don't even activate properly when exercised, so if I got pregnant while being in my current physical condition I likely could render myself immobile) 7. I want to be able to protect myself (maybe rejoin the dojo) 8. To better my chances at having a long and healthy life with my loved ones 9. My husband 10. Myself • "I am here because I am tired of being held back by my body. I am rough stone seeking polish through trial and doing the work to get to how I want to be is what makes it valuable. I want to fight for myself and those I love and I want that dragon to notice me and tremble." Still exhausted and shaking, I stand up and lift my hands to the sky. It's time for a new backpack with new lessons and ideas. If I want different results then I must do things differently. Even if it means starting with nothing but these hands. •

Hello! I’m CM. I’ve been around the warrior guild for a few years now but still have newbie numbers due to lots of restarts and attempts to get form where it needs to be. Specifically, The Squat. As a recent trainer at my gym so helpfully pointed out: “Were you just doing front squats?†Sighs, “I was†“You should keep your back more vertical.†“Yeah, I know. It’s something I’m working on and front squats are better in that regard than back squats†“Oh, well, [proceeded to give me 10 minutes of advice and ‘exercises’ that will ‘help’ me]†So, I am working on it. Based on a lot of trial and error, it’s mostly due to my lack of ankle mobility. I stretch my ankles out twice a day for a couple minutes each time and generally get in at least one hour-long yoga session per week. I do goblet squats, front squats, and bulgarian split squats in substitution for back squats. I’ve been following the 531 program, 3x/week. However, the significant other (SO) and I agreed to do a month long Self (the magazine) challenge with my mother and sister so I will be chilling in the Rebels camp this challenge! Oh also, I'm terrible with challenge themes but welcome all the gif love! Quest 1 I’d like to work off the holiday pounds a bit quicker than I did last year (read: it took me approximately 7-9 months of lax goals to lose the pounds I put on during the holiday season). That means, enter the cardio. *complete the five Self workouts each week throughout the challenge. They’re all pretty much cardio but they call some of them “toning†workouts. Which is why, I will also be *keeping up with 531, 1x/week Quest 2 I fell off the foam rolling and mobility band wagon. Time to get back on. *complete 25 minutes of foam rolling or mobility per week (outside of my daily ankle stretches and yoga) *complete four yoga sessions throughout the challenge Quest 3 *No alcoholic beverages for the whole challenge *Keep carbs below 100g (+- 10g) for 20 days out of this 26 day challenge. *Keep weekly calorie intake within 500 calories of 12,600 for the first three weeks, then 9,000 for the last five days. *take measurements and progress photos for challenge start and end. and here we go!