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Some of you are aware that I’ve had some pretty dire struggles with mental health. It’s a battle I feel that I cannot win going on as I am. The catalyst was getting passed over for promotion. But after a day of feeling worthless, I realised something. I do not love my job anymore. I downright detest some of the people I have to work with. And I just saw my whole life stretching out ahead of me, a grey and miserable road, continuing on this path of drudging. Maybe I’d shift to another job, maybe I’d eventually make a promotion. But my spark is gone. My performance at work has suffered because I simply cannot concentrate. My day is split between trying to work, trying to ignore the immaturity of the office and trying not to let my mind wander to the places I cannot afford to let it go. My home life is a mess. And I am never going to get myself healthy in this environment. My headspace can hardly heal and flourish when I feel trapped in my physical life. So I quit. I handed in my notice with no job lined up, no real ‘adult’ contingency. And I booked a retreat and some flight tickets to Bali. And then that morphed, after a week or so, into this little flame of hope and strength. So I booked more plane tickets. To Middle Earth. Some people call it New Zealand. My intention is to get some distance and hopefully, some perspective. In Bali, I am staying at an ashram, with twice daily yoga classes and cultural experiences in the nearby village. I am not going to use my phone, I won’t be online much. I will ‘retreat’ in most senses of the word. Then, I will cross the biggest thing off my bucket list and spend five weeks exploring New Zealand, splitting my time between both Islands. I have already booked my Hobbiton tours. Yes, plural. I’m going twice. One is an early morning tour with lunch in the party marquee. The other is an evening tour followed by a banquet in the Green Dragon and I honestly think I may pass out from excitement. I want to return stronger, mentally (physically will be a nice bonus too with all the hiking and CrossFit tourism I’m hoping to do). With a clearer head and without the crippling social anxiety and depression which has, I’m afraid to say, spiralled to suicidal thoughts a fair amount. But one thing I did not expect, was that in planning this trip, I already feel stronger and more assertive. I am having to book things alone, and contact AirBnB hosts and decide things solo, book car hires and at the same time, I'm taking delight in those choices and working out my routes. It’s empowering and terrifying and exhilarating. And it’s so so good to feel that. I am not my past and I sure as heck am not my mental illnesses. I know I will find myself in Middle Earth because for once, I am not going with a to-do list of things I want to change about myself. It’s not about a ‘new me’. It’s about exploring, growing, pushing my boundaries out, and accepting that progress isn’t linear. I don’t expect to be transformed by the trip. I just think I will be healthier for it, and if nothing else, it will be a bank of positive memories and a time of empowerment to look back on and use when the darkness draws in. That said, my goals this round are only up to the 1st February, when I embark on my crazy adventure. I won’t be back in the UK until March 31st. Week One: 13th – 19th January 2020 - Have everything I will not need (summer dresses, hiking shoes, etc) packed - Finish buying the stuff I need (suntan lotion, etc) Week Two: 20th – 26th January 2020 - Decide on the books to take and pack them ( a very important decision that cannot be rushed!) - Have route through Middle Earth (ahem, New Zealand) mapped out and all accommodation booked Week Three: 27th – 1st February 2020 - Finish all packing, check I have everything. Check again - CHECK YOU HAVE EVERYTHING BECAUSE I KNOW YOU ALEX - Have passport scanned and printed, all passes and such printed and in a folder IN YOUR BAG - Check bags again. - Tidy bedroom and living room so I come home to a neat house! - Seriously though, do you have everything you need packed? ( (I may have a history of forgetting things... a lot ) A Also, thank you to @Tanktimus the Encourager and @WolfDreamer for checking up on me and nudging me to not give up and to keep giving challenges a go. I really do appreciate it

Hi all! I'm an Aussie living in NZ and new to the forums. Ive been a NF fan for quite some time, but in finding out about the 6 week challenges have decided to dig a little deeper in the hopes that I can chat to others and stay motivated. My current goals to complete by the end of the year is to be able to do at least 1 chin up, and decrease my 10k time. So please say hi and let me know if you've got similar goals

The first part of the Top Secret Mission I was working on last challenge was completed successfully. Operation Birthday Adventure for my Hobbit was a success! He had no idea about the adventure, nor did he know anything about part 2 of the Mission: We are going to New Zealand! (Yes, I am just a little excited) Because our trip will be happening right in the middle of this challenge, I am going to alter the challenge format to fit my life circumstances. Part 1 (Weeks 1 & 2): Prepare for the trip Part 2 (Weeks 3 & 4): Enjoy the trip Part 3 (Weeks 5 & 6): Recover and start holiday preparations I have tried to keep a kind of consistency in the goals and tracking, even though the intent changes during each part. To simplify tracking and comparison across the different sections, I am going to be using a point system. The point goals will be the same for all goals and challenge parts. Fitness Part 1: Trip Boot Camp I need to get ready for this trip! In true Nerd Fitness Rebel style, we have a very active trip planned. We are doing many activities ranging from hiking to canyoning to mountain biking, to river sledging (We are going to Hobbiton and the Weta Workshop, too, though). I had been hoping to be much more fit by this point. Unfortunately, I have had a hard time developing the habits and maintaining much of my strength and aerobic fitness gains. As a result, I need to maximize the time I have and make sure I make as much progress as possible in the next 11 days. My goal is to do walking (or another aerobic exercise) AND either yoga OR a bodyweight workout EVERY DAY between now and the trip. Is that a tall order? Maybe, but it is less than 2 weeks, and I really need it. I will give myself a point for every kind of exercise that lasts longer than 20 minutes. Bodyweight workouts done in sets throughout the day counts, as long as the total time is more than 20 minutes. Part 2: Keep the Balance In this part, I will enjoy the trip, and balance the pre-arranged activities with yoga/stretching and BWW where necessary. I planned a variety of activities for us, but most are either hiking or a lower-body focus. To help maintain my ability to stay active, I want to make sure I stretch often and a lot, and do bodyweight exercises for upper body and core. A point for each activity lasting longer than 20 minutes, but 1 point each day needs to be a complementing activity when possible. Part 3: Moving through the winter By this time, I hope to have been more active than usual for about a month. I want to maintain increased fitness through the winter, but will need to adjust my habits to make it work for the regular daily grind. As above, I will give myself a point for each activity lasting longer than 20 minutes, with a goal of doing 2 different kinds of movement, aerobic exercise, flexibility or strength training each day. In the mindset of Ido Portal & GMB (Gold Medal Bodies), even just playing with moving my body in different ways will count for this. The main focus is getting myself in the habit of being out of my chair and moving more often so fitness truly becomes a habit. Goal: 14 points per week Mental/Emotional Health This one is pretty much the same for all parts of the challenge. I need to care for my mental/emotional health so I stay more positive and calm, and am able to enjoy our adventures more! I will get points for: Meditating for at least 5 minutesAsking myself my positive questionsJournaling (about feelings)Seeing how unexpected circumstances just happen instead of only being my fault. This counts even when I have to talk myself into it. Goal: 14 points per week Life Quest Part 1: Get ready for the trip! There is SO much to do before we leave. I will award myself points every time I complete a to-do item from my preparation list. I may award points for partial completions if the task takes a lot of time. Goal: 100% packed and prepared by 11/20 (around 14 points per week should do it – depending on how I score certain items) Part 2: Enjoy the trip! While on the trip, I want to focus on being present – both in the places we visit and with my family – and making memories. I will award myself points for actions that work towards this end: taking pictures, connecting with the family (games, conversation, etc.), meeting new people, journaling (activities), etc. Part 3: Re-establishing habits There are a number of habits that I am just really starting to have established, and I want to re-focus on them upon our return. I will give myself 1 point for each day that I do one of these habits (I reserve the right to add to this list ): Have social time with someone outside the family, or significant social time within the familyDefeat fear or procrastinationAsk the kids to help with choresWorking on my healthy pregnancy business for at least 1 hourGoal: 14 points per week Grading: I will be grading this challenge similar to how I graded the Silver Lining challenge – based on need for support rather than letter grades. I kind of stole the grading right out of there: 0-3/need more support; 4-6/A good start; 7-9/Nice –keep it going; 10-13/Great!; 14-18/Wow, Amazing!; 19+/â€I am the Dragon†Just to get everyone in the mood, here is what I understand is the actual Air New Zealand in-flight safety video currently. I will let you know if it is true after we have taken the flight. Also, For obvious reasons, there will be a lot of Lord of the Rings references throughout this thread. I will not necessarily *try* to have that as a theme, but how can nerds like my Hobbit and I go to NZ and NOT talk about LOTR?

Hey all, This seems silly given how long I've been reading NF, and how much is said about how powerful these boards are, but here I am finally. I'm a 27 year old female from Auckland, NZ, and I love this place Have lost almost 15kgs from my heaviest (over 30lbs) through 'tweaks' - eat lchf, no sugar, no alcohol (unless it's a very special occasion), increased my water consumption - fridge is now full of vegetables, non-lean protein and low-carb dairy, but I still have a long way to go, and am looking to lose another 20kg by the end of this year (around 45lbs). Have some personal demons I need to really battle this year, which have a tendency to make me pretty anti-social - have signed myself up for ju-jitsu classes to give me a non-work, regular social experience that has no pressure, and let me do something I've always wanted to do, but couldn't bring myself to commit the time to, as during the year I get pretty busy with work, and finishing of my university degree part time - yes, I admit these have been excuses, and I am ready to attack these now. Also totally excited about finally being able to do some mud run type events this year, have always felt like I wouldn't be able to keep up, and that I would be embarrassed, but I have to remind myself that really, no one else cares but me. I'll be honest, the whole ''challenge" thing is very confusing for a first timer, but given I'm probably a level 100 lurker I should be able to figure it out eventually. Thanks for reading my ramble - anyone in Auckland/NZ, I would love to help organise NF teams for events like 5ks/ mud runs/ cross fit if anyone is keen, or even just adventures off into the bush, otherwise stay strong

Hey warriors - a bit of an intro since this is my first time as a warrior. i've been in and out of challenges all year, never quite finding something i can stick to that i enjoy. when i first started i loved body weight, found that i hate cardio, circuits are good but lacked motivation. Not at home from 6am - 6pm so finding a time to workout is difficult, unless it's short (cardio, blergh) or is just on the weekend. Boyfriend (who i work out with) has been thinking about strength training for a while. I asked a friend of mine who is a personal trainer and competes in judo professionally for a good place to start. Enter the German Body Comp, which we've done for the last three weeks. Love it! Boyfriend then spends vast majority of the day reading up on strength training. And this brings us to Strong Lifts 5x5 A simple workout, done three times a week, relatively quick, and we enjoy strength training. Sold! And so shapes my next challenge. 6 weeks of doing 5x5, 3 times a week. Always good form. And adding in some pull ups/chin ups as an extra thing to do - assisted at first. I have the strong lifts 5x5 app on my ipod to use at the gym, will also set up the spreadsheet on google docs to keep track of my progress overall. Will add in chin ups too. I say this every challenge but i am excited about starting this, in that i feel like i've finally found something i enjoy that i can see good progress doing - which gives me a reason to keep doing it.

Well it's new challenge time. I've moved from the Monk trail for now as i need to take a few steps back with my goals. I'm still injured so this challenge will be interesting. But i'm back to get out of the red. Bad habits that need to be squashed and weight needs to start going the right way. For those who don't know i have nerve problems which at the moment are effecting my right hand/wrist really badly. I can't hold anything, can't lift anything (very weak). I can't put weight or pressure on my right arm from the elbow to the wrist. For this challenge i'm getting back into a regular workout that i've been lacking since i've been injured. In my last challenge i started the habit of working out in the morning, this will continue. I will also get back into the gym, get back into my interval training, continue body weight workouts and look at starting to attend classes at my gym. Morning Workouts: Every week day 1 minute warm up. High knees or butt kicks. Then I will do 10 reps at a time, combination of crunches, reverse crunches, squats, lunges, hip raises. Repeat for 5 minutes. Gym: Three times a week minimum Interval training. Get back onto the C25K. Will be starting from scratch but it's the only cardio machine i can use. Bodyweight circuits. There are a number of exercises that i can do with my injury. I will alternate these each time and keep track of reps, increasing each time. My gym also has cardio based classes, there are heaps of different ones. I need to look into which ones i can do with my injuries and start doing at least one a week. Being a friend I need to get back into the habit of coming on here regularly and checking in on the friends i've made, and new friends. I love this place for the support it gives me, and i need to make sure i'm giving it back. I have set up a spreadsheet to track all of my workouts. If anyone has any exercises that i can do with my injury please let me know, i thrive on variation as i get bored easily.

Hello! I'm an eighteen (nearly nineteen) year old girl from New Zealand! I've never truly been fat, but I've always had a layer of pudge over my muscles. Naturally, without much exercise I am fairly strong however with the layer of fat on top of muscles I always look fatter than I am. My pop says that I have "kauri-trunk legs". None of my friends or family ever really believe or support me when I set weight or fitness goals which is why Nerd Fitness seems so cool! My goals are to be able to walk to the summit of Mount Ruapehu from the top chairlift by July (I'm a skier) and to be able to do the Tongariro crossing by the beginning of October (a full day tramp over a mountain). Basically I just want to improve my general fitness as I want to join the NZ police force in the future. I look forward to talking to everybody and hopefully keep on top of my goals!

Ok first challenge to be started, hope i'm doing this right. Main Quest: to be more comfortable with who i am, being fitter, healthier and smaller. i have no goal weight but at least 30KG than i currently am. Mini Quests: 1: to continue doing BBWW three times a week, by the end of 6 weeks being able to do the full circuit 3 times 2: do cardio three times a week, at least 30 minutes each time 3: lose 10KG (22 pounds) during this challenge Life Quest: Start roller skating again, i belong to a club called Skate Collective, train once a week in a low contact derby league. haven't been for months. training should start again during january. no more excuses! it's fun and gets my out of the house. Points System: Each full circuit of BBWW is 1 point A full three circuits of BBWW is 4 points Each 30 minute cardio session is 2 points Each extra 30 minute cardio session is 2 points (on non cardio days) Attending Roller Derby training 3 points Reaching goal weight at end of 6 weeks 5 points Reaching goal weight by 11 Feb (when i'm getting my next tattoo) 5 bonus points ^ i wasn't supposed to book it until i got this goal weight but i've hopefully pushed it out long enough to complete the goal and i'm impatient. Grading: A: over 140 points B: 115 - 139 points C: 80 - 114 points D: less than 80 points looking forward to starting on Monday!

The time has come for what Im pretty sure is the first NF Rebel meet up in the South Island of New Zealand! A few of us over at the women's academy just happen to be in South Island NZ at the same time. We are currently thinking the following dates somewhere around Feb 24 - 28 or Mar 3 - 5 possibly in Dunedin or Otago. Ideas - Dunedin is my home town so I can take the fellow rebels on a bit of a tour of the sites (We have amazing wildlife penguins albatross seals etc and the steepest street in the world to run up, beaches, cool rocks and landscapes etc), or maybe walk up a mountain if the weather cooperates, or have a beach walk/run and hopefully enjoy some great coffee. I would love to get our inner hobbits on and go on an adventure. Anyway - just currently in the planning stages right now - so by the off chance there are any other New Zealand rebels around - pipe up!!!!!

Main Quest: Lose weight, improve fitness and build healthy habits Hi! I'm Amy and this is my third attempt at completing a challenge. I like the changes that have been made to the Leveling Up process, and am hoping that these help make it easier to complete this challenge. My three specific goals towards my main quest are: 1. Track food intake and stay within set calorie range every day. I know I do better when I track my food, but I seem to find it hard to continue this past several weeks. Invariably I do really well and then have a blow out on about the third weekend. Then I decide not to record the blow out, which becomes not recording at all. So the plan is to record all my food, but also stop trying to 'save' calories for the weekend so that I can effectively binge. That's where staying within a set calorie range every day comes in - I'll try to make sure I not only don't overeat, but I also don't under-eat. Consistency is key! 2. Take an average of 12500 10000 steps every day for the 6 week period. I'm already at about 11000 steps on average for the last 2 months, so I think this is achievable. Revised this goal 17/8 due to illness taking this so far out of reach for me. I'm also already taking part in a walking challenge at work, so this gives me double the accountability for this goal! 3. Reduce sugar intake, particularly from processed foods. Sugar is my demon. I lurve me some sweet things. So for this 6 week period I will not eat: anything from the confectionery aisle at the supermarketno energy drinks and no sodano sugar in my coffeeno chocolate - this includes anything with chocolate in it. Good bye sneaky cakes, biscuits and muffins.​I've done this once before and it worked amazingly well. I found by the end of a month I no longer craved sugar and a little bit was enough to satisfy me. I'm hoping to get back to that place again. Life Quest Deal with my mini-hoard. I'm currently in the process of packing the house to move for earthquake repairs. This is the perfect opportunity to deal with my mini-hoard. I've got boxes that I've not touched for nearly 5 years! So my goal is to get rid of everything I haven't used in a year. I'll donate as much as possible, and throw out everything else. If I don't commit to this I'll just end up moving all this rubbish to another house. Enough! Motivation! Currently I'm herping all over trying to get a photo uploaded. So I'm going to write up my motivation and try to add the photo tomorrow I want to stop using unhealthy "crutches" to get me through life. This means stop using other, ultimately destructive, things to get me through life e.g. sugar to deal with stress, and my mini-hoard to hide paperwork I don't want to deal with. And I want to be more present in my life. I want to love myself, and others more. And I want to jump in the deep end of life more often! I had a taste of this going to France earlier this year and it gave me such a rush I want keep doing it! But if I don't remind myself, I worry I'll go back to my 'safe' little life instead. Measurements Edit 30/7/13 to add Measurements. I'm going to add some measurements on the Monday of the challenge. Whilst I'm not specifically focusing on weight loss with this challenge, I certainly hope to lose something - be it kg or cms! Beginning stats: Weight = 81kg Neck = 35.5cm L bicep = 32.5cm R bicep = 32cm Bust = 112cm Underbust = 90.5cm Waist = 115cm Hips = 117cm L thigh = 65cm R thigh = 65cm L calf = 37.5cm R calf = 37cm