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I am Chris Tarly (formerly Curl Brogo). I have been on the NF Forums for over six years now. My primary goal is and was to lose weight. And I've managed some progress in fits and starts and have been yo-yo-ing for all that time between 240 and 270. I have decided that to kick off the new year (2020) I'm starting over with a a hard reboot, and I'm joining the NF Academy. This challenge will focus on racking up XP points in with the NF Academy, then I have a few other goals that don't fall under that umbrella: writing, meditating, and homesteading. NF Academy: This is my big fitness goal. There's a lot going on here. I've got a lot of missions and quests and tasks dealing with mindset, nutrition, and workouts. I am going to focus on applying the "Never miss two in a row" rule to these three things. Mindset: Never skip morning stretching and Zazen (daily) two days in a row. AND Never miss eating a mindful breakfast (daily) in my mindful eating space. Nutrition: Never skip bringing a homemade lunch to work (M-F) two days in a row. Workouts: Never skip a weekday workout (M, W, F) two days in a row. I must keep this up until the end of this challenge. I will allow 3 strikes total. Missing doing a thing 2 times in a row is one strike. And you bet, not getting it the third time around is another strike. If I make it to the end of the challenge with < 3 strikes, I can open my treasure chest: That's $50. And I know those denomination actually look a little sketchy, like 2-3 drinks, $1 tips for the ladies, and a private dance... no. $20 is for two group boxing classes at this gym in town. The rest is for a trip to my new favorite Bar-cade, $20 will get me a couple drinks and the singles are for quarters so I can play the retro arcade games. Fitness Sidequests: For the weekends NF Yoga Saturday: Do a NF Yoga session on Saturdays Big Mind Sunday: Do a 45+ min Zazen session on Sunday Chinup play: Do 20 min of chinup/pullup assistance exercises Clean the Apartment: Todo list, to complete before the challenge is over Clean out wardrobe and give old clothes to goodwill Clean bedroom including under the bed Clean THE WHOLE bathroom Declutter (to GW) and clean the office Declutter (to GW) the office closet Declutter (to GW) the living room Declutter and clean the kitchen Clean the floors Writing: I'm still working on the novel I started for NaNoWriMo. Heh. I still haven't 'won' Nano. I really want to at least finish Part 1 of the novel which should be done around 50,000 words. Track word count. I wanted to do one hour a day, but I don't think that's doable with work and all the other goals happening. I'm still going to post about is so it stays on my mind. Starting word count: 42208 Homesteading: Right now I'm researching buying a fixer upper in the country where I can garden and have chickens. I'm looking at USDA guaranteed home loans, and am researching lenders. This will be an evolving To-do list. I'll aim to cross one thing off each week. Contact Lender A -- I tried a few weeks ago, then they recently tried back... I'll get in touch with them during week 1, then we'll see what's next regarding if I qualify vs. what I need to do to qualify Research realtors/companies TBD

Hi, I'm Whisper! Why am I Whisper? Because I used to be Whisper Lost, but I don't feel so lost any more! Why was I Whisper Lost? Mortalis, by R.A. Salvatore What miserable wretches we mortals be To build our homes in sheltered lea, To build our hopes in sheltered womb Weaving fancies of the tomb. What wretched souls we mortals be To bask in false epiphany, To see a light so clear, so true, To save us from the fate we rue. Deny the truth before our sight That worms invade eternal night, That maggots feed within the skin Of faithful pure, devoid of sin. Oh what hopeful children mortals be! Castles in air, grand barges at sea, Bed of clouds and angels' song, Heavenly feasting eternity long. What mockery made of endless night! That prayer transcends truth and hope denies sight! That all that we know and all that we see Is washed away by what we pray much be. So tell me not of eternal soul That flees my coil through worm-bit hole. For when I die what is left of me? A whisper lost to eternity. Anyway, way less depressed now then when I started using that as a username, so Whisper, instead of Whisper Lost! I still like the poem, and I still like the image of our souls as Whispers. A couple weeks back I started posting in the 4 Week Challenge, here, and I think I'll still use that for most of my stuff, but I wanted a unified spot to keep track of all of my Quest work for the Academy, rather than breaking it up over 4 Week blocks. Quest 1: Join the Nerd Fitness Academy (25 exp). I did this! Like, a long time ago... I'm back and working through it again because when I was following it, it was really helpful! Sanity is doing the same thing over again and expecting the SAME result! Quest 2: Mindset: Take Your Measurements (40 exp). Date Weight Body Fat % Neck Chest Bicep R Bicep L Gut Pants Hips Thigh R Thigh L Calf R Calf L 1-Jan-19 361.4 19.5 60.6 17.75 18 60.25 49 50 27 28 19 19 Quest 3: Mindset: Snap Those Before Photos! (25 exp)

WARNING: LONG Every day the ocean tides rise and fall, rise and fall. Constant. Reliable. The heartbeat of life on this planet. The tides represent a predictable pattern in the fabric of life. I have begun to notice a similar pattern in my own life, one of ups and downs, ups and downs. Interests flare up and then wane. Eating habits shine forth in health and fall back in gluttony. Happiness gives way to anger or sadness before surging back with gusto. Motivation, likewise, flashes forth with brilliant light and then fades to barely a flicker. The pattern of human life. So, how do we deal with these patterns? Do we stand on the beach of life and rant at the ocean as it slowly rises around us until we drown? No. Just as oceanfront housing is built with the wind and tide in mind to be able to stand strong at all seasons, we must also build a life that can withstand the tides of life. I am ready to stand forth and begin building that life. I’m 30, female, average in almost every way, and experience life much the same way as everyone else. That is, I am overweight, lazy, eat poorly, and feel dissatisfied in my work. I might plunge into a diet for 8 months and lose 25 pounds. I might purge the kitchen of every scrap of junk food in a blaze of good intentions. But just like the tides flow out to sea, the diet fades in favor of candy, and the kitchen soon hosts an impressive variety of chips. Last year I discovered and subsequently joined, the Nerd Fitness Academy. It was perfect and appealed to the loner bookworm nerd inside. It also really grabbed my inner video game completionist who saw the quests and had to “catch em’ all”. So, great! I jumped in! It was high tide indeed as I tried to juggle the 3 modules with their many quests and articles while introducing new exercises and trying to eat a bit better. I was checking off quests and trying to get as much done as possible. With an approach like that, I’m sure you all know how that ended. As someone in the teaching profession, all progress came to a halt in August. Stress began to pile up. The exercising went first. I stopped taking the time to read the articles and modules online in favor of mindless youtube binging. Teaching is dangerous in that unhealthy food presents itself constantly, either from the teacher’s workroom or from various parties in the classroom. And then it was holiday time! Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Eve, they all took their toll. So, here we are, another year, and another chance to change things. Do I go through the resolutions, the sudden changes to habit, the failures that create other failures? Do I delay things, waiting for the perfect time? I’m tired of doing that, to be honest. Years of trying and failing has gained me nothing. In the Academy I unchecked every quest I had “completed”, knowing it was a hollow trophy. I could try again. Even as late as this morning I was ready to walk that path again, however. Determined to change, but unable to see another way. Until this afternoon. I opened Nerd Fitness Academy. I went to the Module One Intro page. I started to read through the module again, figuring I’d get the early articles read so I could start checking off some quests. But I didn’t get too far. Because I found a sentence that I had previously skimmed over. And it changed everything. Seems rather mundane, but it was honestly an eye-opening sentence. Previously, I had been working on all three of the modules at the same time! Mindset, Nutrition, and Fitness. And yet here was the first page of the first module telling me I didn't have to do it all at once! This went against the grain. Surely there's no way I should be ignoring what I eat? Shouldn't I purge the kitchen, or at least start logging all of the crumbs that made it into my mouth during the day? Shouldn't I start the exercise routines, and buy some fancy equipment? It's the New Year! Don't I need to radically change several habits at once in order to suddenly become the best version of myself in a short amount of time? I speak sarcastically to be dramatic, but it was truly an arresting moment. Suddenly I understood that the Academy was serious about changing default habits. I've read so many posts here on the forums. I see people doing amazing things - lifting weights twice my size, cooking meals that sound like they should be in a book, even losing weight - and I wanted to do that too. Let's face it, the internet is the perfect medium for comparison. Compare your life, your habits, your progress, or your lack of progress, to hundreds of others at the mere click of a button. I fell into the trap. I needed to do more. I needed to be more. Change everything so I too could feel the fulfillment that others seemed to have in such abundance. I thought I was going slow, just like all of the guides and articles said to in order to change your life. Turns out I was speeding along trying to catch the Jones'. That one sentence in the Academy article tore away the blinders. I must change my approach to this. The mind and habits must be first, before food, before exercise, before anything else. Above all else, though, there is no more lone wolf inclination. This battle log will serve to document not only the changes in my lifestyle habits but will also serve to start and build the habit of sharing. Of learning that it's okay to share myself and do so in a way that doesn't compare me to anyone else. It's going to be a long journey. I know my devotion to this will rise and fall, and that my weight and health will do the same. But that's why I changed my username. The tides are the natural, and so are the emotional changes of life. Let me embrace them rather than fight. Let's get started! ---------------------------- Battle Log of the Tides January 1, 2019 * Quest Completed - Respawn * Starting weight: 183.2 pounds Ideal weight: 135ish Current Objective: Restart the Academy - Mindset Module Today's Thoughts: This battle log will serve as the public log of my journey through the NF Academy. I will be working through the Mindset module first before doing anything else. I will continue certain habits that I had already started last year (at least those that stuck) such as morning walks six mornings a week. I do plan on also creating and completing the forum challenges, but those will be separate from this log. In time I will be posting things such as training logs, food logs, new habits, and other thoughts here. I hope to get into the habit of posting more elsewhere in the forum as well, and not being such a lurker.

The last several months of 2016 were crazy busy for me, and my everything kinda fell apart. To the point where I decided to take December "off," as a recovery challenge. That went spectacularly, and I am now ready to jump back into things! Husband is jumping with me this time, which is awesome. Let's get to it! Goal One: Exercise every day! Doesn't matter what, or for how long, just do something. Priority is habit building, but getting in a good workout is great too. I've got derby twice a week, so there's 2 days taken care of. Husband and I are planning to do NF Academy workouts twice a week (starting with Level 2), which brings us up to 4 days accounted for. I'll probably fill in the other 3 days with yoga, pilates, or general stretching. And, because I'm nuts, I'm doing two Instagram challenges in the (super slim) hopes of winning some fun workout gear. One is planks every day, and one is yoga poses. I'm @elfchickgetsfit if anyone wants to join me, or just snoop on my antics. Goal Two: Eat better! Going to be slightly vague with this goal, but we're trying to eat paleo. I think to get started we're going to focus mostly on cooking stuff for dinners. I'm going to try to be "paleoish" for the other meals as well. Also included with this one is drinking 8 cups of water/unsweetened tea each day. Goal Three: Sleep! Get to bed by 10 each night (edit: or as soon as possible on nights with practice). That won't quite give me 8 hours before my alarm goes off for work, but it'll be more than I was getting, and I'm trying to make this an attainable goal. Also, get up when your alarm goes off. No snooze button! Life goal: Get better at derby! I've got until the middle of February to improve my ability to play derby. That's when the next evals are, and I really want to level up. Especially since at the moment it looks like we'll still be on the flat track (the probably warehouse fell through, so no banked track yet). I'm going to try a lot harder to make it to every practice and scrimmage. Especially scrimmages, because that's what I need the most improvement on. Ready Player One? Ready Player Two? Go!

Alright, Happy New Year Rangers! I realize I'm a bit late to starting my thread. So I'll cut to the chase on my goals: I respawned with the NF Academy missions, so my plan is to keep up with those for this challenge. Those are based on the e-mails that I will get weekly. Week 1 e-mail: Before Photos (25 XP) - This is a non-negotiable! You don't need to look at them, you don't need to hang them up, but you do need to take them. Measurements (25 XP) - Another way to track your progress. Find your Big Why and share it (25 XP for each ) Walk 5 minutes per day this week (100 XP) - Time to start moving! (4 days so far) Keep up with my rowing workouts that my buddy and I are doing. (3x a week) Yoga - I need to do some yoga - my body is getting tight. Schedule a time to meet with my old personal trainer about kettlebells.

I was up to "here" with being sick and tired of being sick and tired, when I received an email from NF. It was a last chance offer to join the Academy at the old price. I did some reading and decided to sleep on it. (I tend to be a bit impulsive about buying fitness programs--I have several that do nothing but take up space on my hard drive or on a shelf.) I took the plunge. Joining the Academy includes access to the NFA Facebook group. I don't do FB, so here I am. Short background: I'm 63 and extremely de-conditioned. I've had some medical problems related to a surgical procedure with serious complications. I was given a clean bill of health with no restrictions a long time ago; I can no longer use that excuse. I am carrying around a lot of extra weight and that's beginning to really mess up my hips, knees, ankles, and feet. I work at a desk job (sports accountant--AKA "bookie") which doesn't help. On top of that, many of my current interests outside of work are also relatively sedentary. I know what it is like to be strong and lean and fit. Anyway, I remember what it was like back in the dark ages. I don't expect to return to that level of fitness (well, part of me does, but deep down, I know that's unrealistic). I do know I can make some changes that will improve my health, strength, stamina, attitude, etc. And…I also know deep down that I have to start at the beginning. I look around and see women my age and older who are very active and not slowed down (much) by aches and pains. I think to myself, "I wish I could be like them." It's time to stop wishing and start doing. A year from now I will regret not starting today.

Starting missions in RPGs are all about killing a bunch of low level mobs to gain enough experience to get to the fun stuff. It's how you learn the controls. I've got a lot of grinding to do right now, so I've decided to pick a couple ambitious goals and grade myself every week according to a rubric. I'll get an overall report card at the end of the challenge! Giving myself an all or nothing experience boost at the end of this quest is probably a good way for me to abandon the quest after I miss my first day, so I'm giving myself a built in way to not miss two in a row! I'll be doing detailed daily breakdowns over on my Battle Log and giving myself weekly checkins and my quest-end report card here. FITNESS QUEST 1: Bodyweight workouts on odd numbered days Alternate doing workouts 1A and 1B from NF Academy. Try to hit all odd numbered days between 9/25 and 10/22 100 POINTS = 14 days 90 POINTS = 12-13 days 80 POINTS = 10-11 days 70 POINTS = 8-9 days 60 POINTS = 6-7 days 10 POINTS = 1-5 days QUEST 2: Yoga on even numbered days Alternate between NF Yoga Water A and Water B. Try to hit all even days between 9/25 and 10/22 100 POINTS = 14 days 90 POINTS = 12-13 days 80 POINTS = 10-11 days 70 POINTS = 8-9 days 60 POINTS = 6-7 days 10 POINTS = 1-5 days QUEST 3: Walk for 5+ minutes every day (walking for my commute doesn't count) 100 POINTS = 28 days 90 POINTS = 25-27 days 80 POINTS = 21-24 days 70 POINTS = 19-20 days 60 POINTS = 15-18 days 10 POINTS = 1-14 days NUTRITION QUEST 4: Drink 8+ glasses of water every day 100 POINTS = 28 days 90 POINTS = 25-27 days 80 POINTS = 21-24 days 70 POINTS = 19-20 days 60 POINTS = 15-18 days 10 POINTS = 1-14 days MENTAL HEALTH QUEST 5: Meditate for 5+ minutes a day 100 POINTS = 28 days 90 POINTS = 25-27 days 80 POINTS = 21-24 days 70 POINTS = 19-20 days 60 POINTS = 15-18 days 10 POINTS = 1-14 days Total possible points: 500 LOOT (each range also receives the loot of the range below it) 450 - 500 POINTS Schedule a massage 380 - 440 POINTS 5 bath bombs from Lush 250 - 370 POINTS New Yoga Mat 120-250 POINTS Go to the Museum of Science and Industry < 120 Try again next time Thanks to everyone in the Juice Bar for the great loot ideas!

EVERYTHING IS AWESOME! While preparing for her first OCR, Lightning began to search for the perfect combo of diet, lifting, and endurance that would help her reach a new level of badass/awesome. After paying attention to all of the amazing people around here Lightning realized that the book/website on "How to Be Awesome" was right under her nose the whole time! Nerd Fitness Academy has it all there for her, she just needs to follow it. Let's crack open the pages and see what the guidebook has to say... Step 1... Breathe For this I will be using the NF Mindset portion of the academy. I will complete one mindset module each week. I will also enjoy 1 hour of quiet time each week (meditation, reading, drawing, etc). Step 3... Exercise I will follow the NF Academy's body weight exercises 3x a week. I'm currently at Level 4. I will walk 9 miles a week. I will also complete two of the Assassin modules: 25 box jumps and a 10 second wall handstand Step 9...Eat a complete breakfast (with all the special people in your life) I will track breakfast (actually all my meals) and share the info with my MFP friends. I will also follow NF Nutrition level 4 which is no grains for 10 out of 14 days. When I complete this goal will go up to level 5. also.... Obey all traffic signs (continue driving lessons with my daughter 3x a week) Drink overpriced coffee (1 cup of coffee a day, 3 cups of water a day or 21 in a week) And last but not least- Everything is Awesome when your part of a team (missed my Assassins and can't wait to join in the new Mini!) EDIT: forgot to continue with the Gratitude List from my last challenge. So I'm adding it in here. Not going as far as this, but I do want to focus on the positive things in my life. UniKitty List of Positivity: Find something happy to post about with every update.

The Republic and the Jedi Order are in engaged in active conflict. 6 Months ago contact was lost to 47 different worlds in the outer rim. The expedition force sent to investigate also disappeared. Shortly after this contact to an additional 18 worlds was lost. This time the republic and the jedi order sent mixed task force of regular troops and jedi. Above an unnamed desert plant the task force was ambushed by much larger fleet. The surviving jedi reported that multiple very strong dark side users were in command of the attacking fleet. The battle took about 4 hours and only 3 task force ships could make it back to republican space. At same time the number of terrorist attacks rose significantly. The attacks grew also way more vicious. They are almost always directed towards places or persons of strategic importance to the republic. About 4 Months ago rumors started spreading among frontline troops that the attackers were the descendants of the old sith empire. The empire last attacked the republic 1000 years ago and unto this point was nothing more than a story to scare the children. But rumors stuck and keep growing... The republic and the order are holding the line for the moment but are desperate for fresh troops. More Recruits and Padawan candidates are reaching coruscant daily and are put into training as fast as possible... Week 1: In the first week of basic training the new students of the order are learning the following new things: * Protection against sith mind control techniques (i will install a website and app blocker solution at my phone and desktop) * They get their first course about the war and what they are fighting for (i will do the mindset quests in the academy) * Also it is made sure that they are well rested for the fights to come (7 hours of sleep every night, if the next day is a work day i'm in bed by 11:45, on work days i'm on my way to work ) * they also have to meditate each day and work three times a week with the training remotes (10 minutes meditation and 40 double handed swings 3x peer Week) Week 2: The second week will be filled with a tripp to ireland aehm the frontlines(vacation: nothing planned here) Week 3: While maintaining the training from week 1 during week three the students are required to help out in temple library. A reorganization of the library is nessecary, to make it easier to find information about the sith empire(sell 5 five books (ebay, facebook)) * The students also started learning about how the force helps the to improve their physical abilities (Read the academy nutrition chapter and start the quests) Week 4: By the end of week four the students will be assaigned to masters in various branches of the order to continue their training. But before that they have to study strategy. Especially how the republic collects money to fund the war and how it deploys it's conventional troops (sell 5 five books (ebay, facebook), buy plane ticket to nf meetup in scotland) and they have to finish the studies of manipulating their physical bodies. For the republic!

Hello all! I'm getting started back on this fitness journey. I did well a few years ago, made a lot of good changes, but I have backslid more than a little, and would like to get back on track. My goals for now are to complete the mindset module and get back into good nutrition. This will be rather free-form at first - I'll clean it up later. Today I took measurements (I'll get pictures after the kids are in bed) and started prepping food for the week. In the past I have strictly counted calories, but I am soooooo over that, so I'm going to go paleo-ish and see where that takes me, adjusting as needed. Today's food log Breakfast - Protein shake (made with 2% milk), low cal energy drink Lunch - leftovers (chicken with cashew spinach sauce - homemade, pork tenderloin about 3-4oz, and 2 mandarin oranges) Dinner - making tandoori chicken, roasted veggies (brussel sprouts, red potatoes, apple, onion hash), 2% milk I've had probably 125oz of water so far, and will have more with dinner. One of my big goals is to stop snacking. I want to adjust the amount I eat at meals so that I don't get hungry and snack. With calorie counting, I was always trying to eat these super small meals so that I could eat a giant dinner - pretty disordered eating. Another goal is to eliminate soda. I'm heading to bed soon, and so far zero! I had been off sugary soda for ages, but would regularly drink 5-6 cans of diet per day. It's a habit I'd like to break.

Trying to work on leveling up my diet, and not rambling too much in setting up my challenge, because I don't have a fancy theme or anything. See that picture? I look like a bad ass, don't I? That was my first thought when I saw it. Sadly, my second was that my gut is still quite a bit bigger than I'd like it to be. The fact that my waistbands fell in 3 different spots, and I'm leaning over, aren't doing me any favors, but still. I've been doing ok on the NF Academy quests so far. I think I even made a bit of progress last month. I'd like to make a lot more this month, though. I am currently sitting at diet level 4. I should be at diet level 5, but I kinda fell apart the last few days, so I effectively need to start over. Which brings me to Goal One: complete the quest to reach diet level 5! I need to replace a carb with a veggie at lunch or dinner for 12 days out of the next 14. Or, I guess, just eat an extra veggie if I hadn't been planning to have carbs with the meal? If I'm good, I'll have this complete by the end of week one. After that, depending on how much of a struggle it was, I'll either stay there for a week or two until it's solid, or jump into going for level 6. This is the part where it starts getting hard without Husband working on it with me. I may hang out at level 5 until he's getting there, just to not make things too hard for me. He's supposedly going to start after he graduates, but I don't want to wait until June. Because Goal Two: lose the fat! I would like to drop 2% body fat, or a 1/2 inch off my waist. I have no idea how well those correlate to each other, but I would consider either one to be a success. Going after my gut specifically is pretty much a pure vanity goal. I'll admit it. I do want to reduce my body fat for health reasons, as well. Avoiding the heart disease that runs in my family is a big motivation for me. I'm also hoping that by reducing my body fat I'll get some improvements in my endurance for derby, since I won't be hauling around extra weight. Speaking of derby... Goal Three: Do your exercise! I've got a mentor from my league now. She gave me "homework" to do on top of coming to practice. For this week, I'm supposed to do 30 squats a day, in 3 sets of 10 spread out over the course of the day. I'm also supposed to check out some derby-focused workout she gave me the link to. On top of that, I've got some rehab (I guess? Not an injury, yet, but setting the stage for one if not fixed) exercise for my back/shoulders I'm trying to do. I've been hunching somewhat in front of my computer at work too much, and my shoulders are starting to get stuck that way! Yikes! I need a lighter weight for my exercises, though, because the muscles are so bad I can't do 10 lbs. Going to try to pick that up tonight, and probably some tiny dumbbells for the boys so they can exercise with me. The goal is to do those 3 times a week. I think I'm going to hold off on starting any of the NF exercise quests for a bit, because when you look at what's there, and then consider I have a full time job, two little boys, and derby practice at least twice a week, that's a lot! I do NOT want to burn myself out by trying to do too much at once. Bonus Goal: Move more! This is another continuing goal from last challenge. I've been making pretty good progress on this, aside from the couple of days when my tracker wasn't working. By the end of zero week, I'll hopefully be done with a week of 700 points/day. So I'll be going for 800, and then 900, and maybe even up to 1000 points/day over the course of the challenge. I suspect I won't get through all of that, though. Bonus Goal Extra: The exercise challenge at work starts on June 6. To win the $100 gift card, I need to average 13,000 steps/day. Skating for two hours twice a week counts for enough steps that I only need a bit over 8k steps/day to meet that target. I so got this this year! Especially if I can manage to get up to 900 points/day, not counting my skating, by the end of the challenge. So, really, this is a goal for the next two challenges, but I guess my bonus goal here is prep for that?

My data gathering is complete, and, as became clear in the first week, my biggest issue is planning /time management. I have a plan to deal with that, and that plan is to let someone else do most of the planning! In the middle of last challenge, Husband and I joined the NF Academy. This challenge will be all following the plan contained in there. Plus some roller derby, and hopefully a bit of cycling. My goal for week 1 is to get through the mind set stuff, and then start the actual challenge with the nutrition section. I haven't read through that part in great detail, so I don't know how far I'll be able to get in 4 weeks. Which means scoring will be based on following the plan, however far I get. I'm also still doing roller derby, and in fact I'm going to be trying out for a league on the 19th. I'm very excited and a little bit nervous about that. Especially since I haven't been on skates in over a week because I got sick, and I'm not likely to be back on them until late this week at the soonest, because I'm still getting over the flu. So, I really hope I have a chance to recover before then and I don't get out there and look like I haven't been on skates in forever. I'm still theoretically still working on cycling so I can start riding my bike to the bus, but I haven't made it to the class in so long I'm pretty much starting over with that. For a life goal, I would like to get my garden planned. I have a feeling by the time I can get anything ready it'll be too late to start from seeds, but I can still get small plants to put in there! Edit: Can't believe I forgot to mention that I'm also working on increasing how much I move around during the day. For that, I cut my goal for steps down to 5k per day, to start. Once I've met that goal for a week, I'm going to increase it by 1000, and then repeat, until I'm back up to 10k/day and meeting that consistently.

Last week I was sitting with my sons and watching Finding Nemo and was inspired to make that my next challenge theme. My goal for this challenge is to simplify. I feel like I bit off more than I could handle well last challenge and so I'm tweaking this one to make it more manageable. Fish are friends, not food....just kidding... SUSHI! Stay within Green Zone on FitBit for Calories (3.57% every day completed) 92.85% 64% Lvl up to Academy Nutrition Lvl 4 by end of week 2 and maintain! (3.57% every day completed)Level up to 4 when no grains for breakfast for 14 days straight. Maintaining is minimize sugar and carb consumption, cut out liquid calories, 1 veggie a day 92.85% 64% **BONUS 5XP** Swap rockstar for a coffee twice a week. (3.125% per swap) Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming.... Keep up with Bodyweight Brigade Lvl 1 Workout. 3 times a week. (8.3% per day) 100% 100% **BONUS 5XP** Swim at least 4 times during challenge.(6.25% per swim) **BONUS 5XP** Bonus for following through with BB1 for the entire challenge since I've had difficulty with this in the past (2.08% per time completed) I Feel Happy, Which Is A Big Deal....For Me! Yoga and/or meditation 5 times a week. (5% per day completed) 105% 105% ***BONUS 5XP*** Attend 3 yoga classes during challenge! (8.33% per class) BONUS ROUND each bonus adds up to 25% all 4 bonus'= 100% 62.5% 62.5% Want to say that you to Tank and Elize. Using their progress bar idea to help me with the challenge. Thank you both!

Hi there! I am new to NF (obviously) but I have been doing a lot of reading and I agree with just about everything I have read here. This is a first for me compared to other fitness sites I have looked into which is why I created an account and started to follow the advice from the blog. I am seriously considering joining the NF Academy because I like the idea of having all this info easily accessible and having a concrete way of measuring my progress. In the past, I have given up way before I saw any results because I had nothing to prove to myself I was on the right track and because food is too good (how I know I am a Hobbit). I am hesitant, however, to buy into anything so quickly. My first goal is fat loss. I would like to get down to about 20% fat I think, and then really start to work on building muscle at that point. I made the terrible mistake of looking at the scale this morning and was disheartened (I’m still at the same weight) though I know this might be due to water weight or muscle possibly. (??) I have been doing the beginner body workout every other day and alternating with either a short interval run/jog, or some kind of walk to keep me active. Does this sound like a good track? I am 5’1â€, female, and 160lbs but the fat I am most concerned about is all on my abs. The rest of my body does not have much fat and I swear I am building muscle in these areas but not on my abs. Is this possible while still eating a calorie deficit? Will this still help with fat loss? I am concerned with keeping my workout habits safe and healthy for fear of causing my body more harm than good. My joints tend to make clicking sounds and I don’t want to do anything that might injure me… Any advice about this would be helpful!

Hi there rebels! I am an anatomy/anthropology student who is looking to start my journey as a NF rebel and I have a couple of questions: For those of you who participate in Nerd Academy, do you love it? I am on a student's budget and am trying to justify the expense (which in the long run is very little but for a humble research assistant, it is quite a bit). Also, does this site (in general) keep you motivated? I have read several of the articles and think that this program and community is just what I need. I was just hoping maybe a couple of people could offer advice on how to go about this site/community and give me an idea of what this is all about beyond the blog posts. Hope to hear from some of you and best wishes!

MAIN QUEST: 25% BODY FAT BY 28.12.2014 Ok, time to get specific. I want to be at 25% body fat by my 25th birthday, exactly 5 months away. I've been a member of NF for a year and a half now. The same time period since I started on my fitness journey (cringe, cheesy!) I've learnt a lot in that time, and seen some great results and some frustrating plateaus. I'm on my annual month long break from work now, and I want to take advantage of the time off, and nail this challenge. My plan is threefold: FOOD SLEEP EXERCISE Record it. Log it. Do it. #1. Put it in the book. I now have a dedicated Ems book, where I can log all my foods and sleeps and exercisey shenanigans. All I'm going to ask of myself is that it makes it into the book, every damn day, and is as accurate as possible. If it makes it to MFP, then great, but not essential. 42 (days) - 37: A 36 - 31: B 30 - 25: C 20 or less: F #2. Fail to prepare, prepare to fail. Time off work means more time to prepare food. Preparation means planning, buying, cooking/assembling. I want to improve my batcave by having yummy Ems-friendly foodstuffs on hand all the time. I'll post on here as I go, and measure it by week: Eg. Week 1: What did I plan to eat/buy/cook etc. #3. Be a grown up. I've been thinking a lot lately about the future, and I have a good idea about things I'd like to do. I want to become qualified as a gym instructor, and maybe eventually a PT or a strength & conditioning coach. There's a course near me I would LOVE to do, but it will take some delicate work schedule negotiation. I also want to go on a proper holiday next year, snowboarding in Canada. I don't know why exactly, it just really appeals to me . So, time to get specific. Things to do (these will be ticked off when completed): Email my bosses and request a meeting. Done 20.08.2014 Have said meeting, and deal with the outcome. Done 30.08.2014 Make a new account/direct debit to save money for Canada. Side quest: Work through NF Academy. I'm going to pretty this up with gifs and all that malarkey over the next few days but that's the basic plan Can someone please tell me how to put a progress bar in please? I know where the progress bar button is, but have no idea how to make it say what I want (I want it to track my bodyfat). Thank you sexy nerds!

New Year, new username new start! My acceptance letter FINALLY arrived! (To the Nerd Fitness academy anyway). I'm starting from scratch and working my way up (as suggested) Especially since I've kinda fallen of the wagon when it comes to weight training... Main Quest To be able to complete obstacles (in obstacle course/mud runs) quickly, like their meant for, and to be one of the friends on the team that can make if over the obstacle and be able to turn around and help those that can't do it alone. Instead of the other way around. Goal 1: Do the "Training Workout" 3x per week STR-3 STA- 2 I may advance myself to body-weight level 1 or more but always at 3x per week and always body-weight this go around! Grading-A - 100% B - 75% C - 50% D - 25% F - 0% Goal 2: Complete RUNkeeper 5k program also 2omin yoga on my "nonrunning" days STA-2 CHA- 3 I know, I know I’ve been working on this for MONTHS; starting, stopping, Restarting etc! As of today (01/01/14) I am halfway through week 3 of 7 with a tentative finish date of 02/07/14. Now those that have followed me in the past know I have one insane work schedule that likes to throw a wrench in my plans (especially when I’m on the night shift rotation). Also no yoga on the days I work. Grading- Finish program on 2/11-A (I gave myself a little leeway, with those dang night shifts and longer workouts) Finish program by 2/13-B, 2/15C, 2/16D Yoga-A - 100% B - 75% C - 50% D - 25% F - 0% Goal 3: I really just wanna stay focused on not eating fast food, candy bars, ice cream treats etc from the last challenge. (A-0-2, B-3, C-4, F-5 or above) CON- 3 Side, Life Quest: Read at least one lesson in the academy each day. (subject to editing should I get WAY more reading than I mean to before the Challenge starts!) WIS-2 Grading-A - 100% B - 75% C - 50% D - 25% F - 0% In other news: I've noticed that I get REALLY crabby when I haven't worked out for awhile, and I signed up today for the ZombieRUN Extreme (a resurrected RFYL) August 30th, at least one of my friends has signed up as well and a couple more are considering! YAYNESS! Now OFF to HOGWARTS!