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My name is Sam Black Crow, and I live in a prison, trapped in my archnemesis: The Asshole. My opponent is fat, lazy, and self-indulgent. She eats like crap, trapping us in layer upon layer of fat, letting things atrophy. She doesn't pursue what she wants, doesn't try to better herself. She is content to eat Twinkies and candies and shame. Every ounce of fat on our 247-lb frame is killing me, quickly or slowly. It kills my knees, kills my lungs, kills my back, makes me work harder to do things that should be effortless. The laziness and complacency that is the Asshole thinks that she has all the power. Well as of today I'm taking it back. My Main Quest: Drop the Weight So I Can Train (Lose 32# by 9/12 [90 days]) My quest for self-revelation is impossible under the burden of adiposity the Asshole carries. Before I can reveal my true nature, explore the wonderful self-confidence that is me, I must kill the fat. The battlefield is everywhere: every hour on the couch, every meal that goes in, every action I take or do not take. To become who I can be, I must kill the adipose. Thirty-two pounds is far from the end-game in this War on Fat, but it's a good first step: cull the weight from 247 lbs to 215. Get the taste of blood in your mouth before you attempt to eat a whole deer alone. Mini-Quest #1: Run Really Fast. The first weapon on my side is the sprint. Push hard, push fast, and be out before the cheesecake. The sprints WILL occur three days a week. They'll start “easy†– 30 seconds sprints with a 60 second recovery, no less than 5 times (7:30) in a session. From there, they'll get harder: 30:45, 45:90, 45:75, 45:60. I will get better: faster. Stronger. Daft Punk will make me laugh again as I crush another dash. I will need no less than 18 sprint sessions in to slay the adipose in the 6 weeks I have allotted. Ultimately I will need 25+ out of 12 weeks, but every other day is a place to start. Mini-Quest #2: Lift Heavy Things. The second weapon in my arsenal is going to be the lifting of weights. Specifically I'm going to train like a body-builder, even though that isn't my goal. Muscle regeneration will require calories. Through diet I will deny my body exogenous calories, forcing it to metabolize internally-stored calories. I will eat The Asshole from the inside out. I will get stronger. I will develop the muscles I want under the fat, so that when it's been pulverized into history I will be chiseling away to who I am underneath: strong, powerful, sexy. My early lifts—the “big four†I WILL master—are the Lateral Pull-Down (precursor to the pull-up), the Standing Press, the Bench Press, and the Leg Press. I will also master the Kettlebell Swing and use it to cut fat and bolster muscle. I will learn my starting weights with each lift... and bolster each by 50% or more in the next 6 weeks. Mini-Quest #3: Eat Better. You can't kill the fat without killing the things that make you fat in the first place. For too long the Asshole has gorged herself: chips, sodas, snack cakes, candies every single day. No more. No. More. A year or two ago I had a great success with Tim Ferris' Slow-Carb diet. It was only a little extreme, and it worked, and it only stopped working when The Asshole whispered in my ear that I had “done enoughâ€, that I could “relax, stop worrying about it so much, you're all better nowâ€, and I let her, and a few months later it was chips and gummies every night. Never. Again. I will eat slow-carb again. Lean meats. Healthy fats. Lots of vegetables. And I will shed weight like a squirrel in the winter. I am Miz Black Crow, and this is my quest: to slay The Asshole and emerge victorious from within my prison of fat and fear. It's gonna be a long war... but the battles have already begun.

I'm so tired of making it a week or two into a new challenge or project or habit or whatever and something comes up and derails it. It might be a legitimate problem that I can't adapt my new routine to, but usually it's more of an incredibly tiny puncture in my puffed up sense of commitment and dedication that instead of easily patching I start playing with until it rips wide open and everything falls apart. (As I write I've been picturing a deflating bouncy castle for some reason). So here we go: for the thousandth time, I am setting goals and am full of motivation and passion to see them through. This will only last a few days, though, so anyone who wants to exchange messages or be friends on here to help each other stay motivated, I would welcome hearing from you. I live overseas and have not found anyone who I can talk to about this stuff because the only expats I know are my colleagues and I am just not going there. BTW: Here's an AWESOME SITE for building a habit through daily check-ins, a running tally/tracker, reminders, and encouragement from strangers/friends: https://lift.do/. I love it. Okay, enough. Here's the good stuff: My main goal: Develop greater peace of mind Why: Because getting thinner won't make me enjoy the vast majority of what I do in a day any more than I do now. My 3 sub-goals/steps to get me there: 1. Read and put into practice 2 books on meditation and mindfulness (one for each 3 weeks). On weekends, review notes from previous study and spend time thinking about how the ideas compare with each other. 2. Make an action plan for transitioning from teaching to photography that includes weekly, achievable tasks to accomplish it 3. Discuss and set firm boundaries with the whole department to determine what is and isn't my role/responsibility for next term. STICK TO THOSE BOUNDARIES (and get them in writing) AND "LET THINGS GO" Life Quest: Pay off the small debts that I have to people like my mom and CITI. Totally doable if I'm not stupid. Okay, I'm gonna be bad and sneak this in here. I'm not even sorry. (Wow, that sounds dirty.) Fitness Quest: Get down to under 130 pounds and drop 4% body fat I've got a couple of guidelines for diet and exercise, but I don't want to push my luck and get blocked from this challenge for over-stepping my boundaries. Tracking Results: 1. Starting measurements and photo will come in a couple of days when I've finished an overseas flight I have tomorrow. 2. I have a list of debts in priority of when to repay them. 3. Lift and a printed calendar that I can X off or check off days on will help me see how I'm doing on daily/weekly tasks like whether I've read my books, done my studying, or worked on photography. Where I'm Stuck: I don't know how to "track" whether I'm making progress on the habits of mind I want to develop, things like calmness, patience, general pleasantness, mindfulness, etc. What is the starting measurement for stuff like that? Count how many times I get frustrated or complain in a day? Rank my day from 1-10 on a general "enjoyability" scale? ANY IDEAS???

+ Main Quest: Be able to bend over to ties shoes without being short of breath. - Cut out all fast food. - Complete Beginner Body Weight Circuit (3 circuits) 3 times each week; complete Advanced Body Weight Circuit (3 circuits) at least once by week 4. + Side Quest (Life): Get to level 7 in German on DuoLingo. (currently at level 3) WHAT IS MY MOTIVATION? I get depressed when I have to bend over and tie my shoes. Why? Because I can't do wit without having a hard time breathing. I don't like being depressed, so I'm going to fix this problem. I don't want to have a difficult time breathing when tying my shoes ever again. Starting Stats: Height: 5'8" (68 cm) Weight: 208 lbs (94.3 kg) Average Shoe Size: 10.5 US Size Jeans: 34 Goal Stats: Height: 5'8" (68 cm) *if I could grow taller, that'd be awesome, but I doubt it will happen.* Weight: 185 lbs (83.9 kg) Average Shoe Size: 10.5 US *also don't think this will change* Size Jeans: 32

This is partly me thinking aloud (I guess not aloud - thinking atype?), but I figured I'd post it up because I'm interested in feedback from more experienced rebels! Greetings. This is gonna be my very first challenge! I've been trying off-and-on to get fit for a long time (more on my history and fitness level in my introduction post). I've nailed down some pretty healthy eating habits, but so far I haven't succeeded in sticking to a workout routine. So, my overall goal is to change this. My main quest: Forge a habit of working out at least 4x per week. So, that's sorted... but what's the next step? My problem is that there is a smorgasbord of things I want to get into, but I can't hope to tackle them all at once. I need focus! Things I want to start/get better at: YogaRunning (C25k or similar)Hip-hop danceCyclingBodyweight trainingFreerunning (probably should hold off on this till I gain a basic level of endurance)What should I focus on for this challenge? Should I pick one thing to try and do consistently for 6 weeks, or should I just let myself pick something from the list for every workout? What are your expert thoughts? Thanks for reading! Have a panda.

After quite a long absence, I return to the fray. In recent months I have become too comfortable with my routine. Continually making progress, but in areas where I have already established a routine. The revised structure of the 6 week challenge inspired me to take the motivation to focus on those areas that I continually do not succeed in prioritising. My life quest - to become a warrior monk wizard hero. To achieve this quest I have split it (for the moment, these categories may change) into the following broad areas: 1. combat proficiency (martial arts and weapon proficiency) 2. brute strength 3. wizard (I can only think of this as chi manipulation at this point which also ties in well with monk, perhaps a little druid). 4. travel 5. spending time in nature/outdoors and the slightly less fantasy areas, but those which I figure any well-rounded hero must also succeed in: 5. family life - relationships with friends, family, partner and at some point kids 6. professional life (weapons cost money right?) - includes job, study (a wizard must also be a scholar!) etc. To break it down my main quest will focus on flexibility, something I see as a key component of martial arts combat proficiency. So, without further ado. Main Quest: do a full side split time: by the end of 2013. Goals: 1. stretch for 20 minutes every day 2. stretch for 5 minutes on the hour while at work (try and overcome desk/sitting related muscle issues) 3. meditate for 2 minutes every day before stretching SIDE QUESTS Life Quest: listen to one coffeebreak spanish podcast every day Diet/Fitness side quest: 5 minutes handstand practice every day (not necessarily practical, but because it's cool... and heroes tend to be cool). Here we go!

I've been apart of the NF community for less than a week, and have been reading articles from it for about two weeks. After getting to know a few people, and responding to a plethora of topics I thought it was time I really took that first step. Although I'm late to the party, I'll be doing the Main Quest challenge to get myself started. It appeals to me greatly being an RPG fanatic, and I want my life to be more.. heroic? Either way, I'm going to now dissect the challenge and fill in the missing pieces. MAIN QUEST Convince myself that change is do-able by establishing a routine, and begin living a healthier lifestyle by working out and eating better. I turn 20 this month, and in a year from now I'll be 21, and let me tell you: This is not where I want to be. It's time I take on the responsibility of keeping my body in good shape for my "coming of age," so this Satyr can finally earn his horns.GOALS Exercise Daily (Saturday Exempt): Every day I will walk no less than an hour, and every other day I will be doing the Beginner Bodyweight Exercises to begin mastering my body. My goal is to be able to do all three sets without breaks by the end of the six weeks.A: >1 Hour of Walking a Day, Finishing two sets of the BBE every other day. B: =1 Hour of Walking a Day, Finishing one set and attempting a second of the BBE every other. C: <1 Hour of Walking a Day, Finishing one set of the BBE every other. D: <.5 Hours of Walking a Day, Attempting one set of the BBE every other. F: =0 Hours of Walking a Day, and no BBE every other. Cut-out Computer Time: For most of my day I sit in this chair and browse the internet, not doing anything beneficial to my physical or psychological health. Sitting here for hours has done a lot of damage to my spine, and that needs to stop. I need to start cutting down on how often I'm online, and my goal by the end of the six weeks is to only be on the computer for two hours a day.A: 2 Hours of Computer Time Daily B: 3 Hours of Computer Time Daily C: 4 Hours of Computer Time Daily D: 5 Hours of Computer Time Daily F: >5 Hours of Computer Time Daily Convert to Water: I've drank Sweet Tea (although it's not stereotypical sweet tea, it's just tolerable) my entire life, and the sugar and caffeine intake is becoming too much. I want to convert to drinking primarily water, even though I have a hard time drinking it (it DOES have a flavor). By the end of the six weeks, I will only allow myself one glass of tea a day, and drink only water otherwise (fruit juice exempt). This is going to be a pass a fail, because if I can find an excuse to drink more tea I will, and that's not going to get me anywhere.A: Incorporate 1 more glass of water every other day, and remove 1 glass of tea. F: Don't drink any water. LIFE QUEST Get a Job: I've had a hard time keeping a job lately, and it's difficult for me to find work. I don't drive nor do I have reliable transportation, so I'm limited to working in a remote area. Nonetheless, my life quest for these six weeks is to find myself a job, so I can work towards getting my license, a car, and moving out! I can do it!STARTING STATISTICS Weight: 329lbs.Body Fat Percentage: 30%BBE Capability: One full-set, and one attempt.

Main Quest: To lose weight, @ least 10 lbs My Goals: 1. To work out for an hour at least 4 days per week. 2. To track ALL my calories and exercise on MFP, even if they're bad. 3. To not eat out for lunch or dinner, but 3x per week (maximum). MOTIVATION: I'd like to have children with my husband, and I want to be at a healthy weight for pregnancy and have developed healthy eating habits, to not only ensure a healthy baby is born but also to teach my child. Start Date: Monday, 7/29/13 End Date: Monday, 9/9/13 I'm so excited! I have already started working on these goals...about a week and a half ago. Although I haven't been 100% perfect, I already feel so accomplished and unstoppable! I am totally ready to tackle this "food demon" that has taken over my life for the past 10 years and I am confident that I will be successful. Having children with my husband is a huge motivator for me. Everyday when I have choices to make (eat out for dinner? too tired for gym?), I can think to myself, are my future kids worth it? Do I want to meet them? Is _____ more important than starting the next chapter of my life and meeting my kids? No, didn't think so! Thanks to everyone reading this! Good luck on your quests! Remember: We DECIDE! We can do this!