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I have things to celebrate from this past year: 1) I completed a TV pilot script and sent it out to screenplay competitions. 2) My husband and I bought a house. 3) My husband and I got a puppy doggo. Despite these joyful occurences, I am trying to understand how 2022 - a whole 'nother trip around the sun - went by so quickly. Was I sleeping for roughly a third of it? Yes. Yes, I was. Nonetheless! During December, I mulled over why I might feel like the year went by too swiftly, and I believe that it's because I lacked physical and spiritual fulfillment. I am a recovering couch potato who once was fairly active. The year before last I would go on hikes weekly with my infant (who's now almost 3 - wow!) carrying his heavy self on my person. I went for runs with my kiddo in the jogging stroller. I did dance cardio, yoga, kettlebells, erg rowing... man! I also was more "active" in reflecting on my spiritual self during 2021. 2022? Not so much. Anyway, that was 2021, and 2021 felt like a good long year despite being in the thick of pandemic-ness. Just comparing here. So yeah - I have decided that I would like to focus on a couple of things for this year: - Finding the joy in exercising consistently again. - Spending more thoughtful alone time contemplating and developing my spiritual side. To kick things off, here is my first challenge of 2023: 1) Exercise for 30 minutes or more 4x per week. Can be broken up into a couple of smaller sessions in the day so long as they total greater than 30 minutes in sum. 2) Spend at least 10 minutes each day writing in journal about spiritual related questions and thoughts OR practicing mindfulness. 3) No alcohol. Dry challenge! There are other things I would like to do and may write about during this challenge, such as writing progress and acrylic painting, but officially aiming to do those things more consistently are things for upcoming challenges. I have enough on my plate.

Last challenge I committed to completely giving up alcohol. I was successful in this endeavor (as well as my other goals), and found a new appreciation for all the benefits that come with not being a regular drinker. I have decided to continue this goal, in the hopes it will be the keystone to my overarching effort: In the past few challenges, I have focused on improving my diet and working out consistently. I am now at the point where I have a solid foundation of recipes I enjoy meal prepping and consuming, and a workout routine that I both enjoy and innately push to see progress in. Now I want to hone these choices into a singular effort to start pairing down on the extra inches I've been carrying around. I am overweight by an estimated 15Lbs (-/+). I make this estimation based on previous clothing, rather than pounds - but the number on the scale has increased in conjunction with my clothing size, and I cannot ignore that correlation. My intention is to use my clothes as the final measure of my progress, and the scale for weekly indications of my speed and direction down this path. And.... *deep breath*... I will commit to posting weekly Challenge progress photos. Not because I think I'm going to make that much progress, but because I want to start documenting my progress with pictures so that I can put together the Ultimate Flip Book of Fitness Progress. Let the saga continue… ULTIMATE GOAL: Gain the High Ground Intelligence Report Materiel Report Assault Plan RANGER TRAINING 10 minute Warm Up - Rowing machine - Cycling - Walking (outside/treadmill) Active Work - Pick 3 exercises for 4 sets each - Barbell: Squat / Deadlift / Bench Press / Row - Dumbbell: Curl / Press/ Fly / Kickback / Side Raise / Row - Cable: Pull-up / Pull-down / Extension / Curl / Fly - Bodyweight: Plank / Weighted Russian Twist / Flutter Kicks / Ab Roller Wheel Cardio 1 mile run (treadmill) Scoring I’m doing this the old fashioned way and keeping a straight tally. Only mini-boss and boss fights are worth more: 5 marks for a mini-boss, 10 for a boss-boss. There is no end goal: I want my high ground to be an ever-growing mountain of the skulls of my enemies. Tally W1 ///// - ///// W2 ///// - ///// W3 ///// - ///// W4 ///// - ///// 12 Feb - 11 Mar One mini-boss battle included Grade: F 19 Mar - 15 Apr One mini-boss battle included Grade: A 23 Apr - 20 May One mini-boss battle included Grade: B 27 May - 23 Jun No mini-boss battle this 4WC Grade: B+ 09 Jul - 05 Aug One mini-boss battle included Grade: B Shit that's changed No more crazy work shifts for myself or my husband, so I am hoping that this challenge remains uneventful throughout. DOMESTIC RANGERING M Vacuum & Sweep T Clean guest bathroom W Vacuum & Sweep Th Clean master bathroom F Vacuum & Sweep Sa Laundry & General Pick-up (house & yard) Su Grocery shopping & meal prep Daily: Clean kitchen before bed Clean litterbox

Last challenge was easy peasy. This one is going to be a stretch (literally and figuratively). I've started a calorie cut and my goals are surrounding making the most of the calorie cut by adding in a focus on removing alcohol and improving sleep. I'm keeping the calorie cut short and really want to maximize my efforts. Fitness/Health Oriented Goals: 1) No Alcohol - I'm considering allowing a small 1 to 2 drink exception for fathers day and fourth of July, but I haven't decided for sure yet. My husband is also dropping alcohol so that should help. Why: Alcohol impacts weight loss negatively even when calories are on track. 2) No starting new episodes of TV after 10:30 - start getting ready for bed / And track your sleep Why: if I start getting ready for bed, I'll go to bed earlier. What is tracked is improved. 3) Stretch/Yoga Nightly - right now I'm stretching but I'd like to try out developing a yoga routine. Why: I'm having some major muscle tightness and overall soreness issues. It seems to be related to sitting all day at work and I think the lifting and calorie cut are exacerbating it. I'm hoping this will help. Life Quest: 1) Apply for three jobs a week Why: I want to get a new job in a new city, so I need to get those applications in 2) Continue working on previous challenge goals, specifically getting up on time and packing lunch ahead of time Why: These are the two I've had trouble maintaining outside of the challenge, but I found them beneficial in reducing morning stress, giving me time for my walk, and getting me out the door in time.

Happy New Year Nerds!!!! I am so excited about 2016. 2015 was an amazing year for me, I went to Camp Nerd Fitness and it really reshaped the way I view my life, my goals and fitness. I also was luckily enough to join an amazing team of Ranger Ambassador’s on the boards here and get more involved in NF which I am really enjoying. I finally started power lifting, something I’ve been working up to basically since I joined NF via body weights and dumbbells. Real world related, I went to Alaska and got a new cat. I got engaged. My fiancé and I got our own place when our roommates moved out. All in all, a great year. I am so ready for 2016 to be even more amazing! This year, I decided to set yearly goals, which I have never done before. I’ve admittedly been neglecting my epic quest, not because I haven’t been doing stuff on it (I have been ever so slowly crossing stuff off) but because I’m not sure how to use it. So I’m converting it into an overarching epic quest list AND using it to track my yearly goals as well! Then I can use those yearly goals to work out the details of my 4-week challenges. My epic quest/yearly goals link is in my signature but I’m also adding them here for reference: 2016 GOALS >>Read 30 books >>Squat my body weight >>Deadlift 200lb >>Apply to join Big Brother Big Sisters of America >>Climb Mt. Washington >>Climb Mt. Marcy >>Climb Mt. Katahdin >>Make Borderlands Cosplay >>Pay off Discover Card >>Create a will & a living will Now this may seem contradictory to everything I just wrote, but the majority of my specific missions this challenge are not going to be directly correlated with my 2016 goals. Winter break was tough for me, I had some personal headspace stuff to deal with in addition to redoing EVERYTHING in the apartment. This still isn’t quite done actually. So I am going to use January as a mental and physical cleanse month, so I can have a clean plate to start out on and really start building towards my goals in February. I need to clear my brain clutter as well as some physical clutter (which is directly contributing to my brain clutter) and I also need to detox my body of some of the holiday crap I just kept shoveling into my face (and I can only use “winter bulk†goals to excuse a very small portion of that). Seriously, this was me the last week of 2015: And I can feel my body being really sad about it. Time to get my energy back! I struggled with a while to decide on a theme for this challenge. I had about 5 different ones that I wrote up complex scoring systems for, utilizing variations on the boss system I did last challenge (which I LOVED), and one where it was really writing based since I had a ton of fun writing up my story last challenge as well, but decided that since my goal for this challenge is cleansing and simplicity… I am going to go with no theme. Just me, myself and my goals

I dropped out last challenge. Nothing to talk around it. This time I will do way easier goals: 1. No Booze for 42 days (Joker for October 11th.... the wedding of my uncle) win/lose (+ 1 CON) 2. Work up to do "guy" push ups (+5 STR) http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/02/15/proper-push-up/ Goal is doing at least one proper push-up at the end of the challenge. So it's a win/lose goal but the goal is still passed (with a bad grade) if I can do at least 4 sets of 5 knee pushups. 3. Leave the house every day... even if it's just a 10 min walk - 42 points (+5 STA) 4. Wear my glasses: week 1 and 2 at least 30 min, week 3 and 4 at least 1 h, week 5 and 6 at least 1,5 h a day - 42 points (+2 CHA) These goals seem totally easy but I need to set goals that are sustainable for 6 weeks. I totally suck at that.

Race: White GuyClass: Ranger Goals:-100 x1.5pood kettlebell swings Clench your glutes! STA + 3 STR +1-350 lb deadlift x2 STR +4-Run 1 mile (trail likely in fivefingers) - In Montana for 10 days, will work on this there. STA +3-No beer/wine CON +2-Remove at least 100 things from my house and keep track. WIS +2 The kettlebell swing does a lot of awesome things. Great core workout, you have to keep everything tight so you don't hurt yourself. Great cardio from the pop and repetitive motion. And allows you to toss things, like dwarves, a little easier. (I'm at about 20 swings with 1.5pood) The deadlift is pure power. Driving your heals into the ground to launch the weight off the ground. (I'm at about 275lbx2 comfortably.) The running is all about chasing or evading. Pounding feet down a trail, pure and simple. (I'm at about 100 feet... ) No Alcohol is pretty simple but likely the most difficult. Saves money, reduces unnecessary caloric intake. (I regularly go without for a week or two, but not sure I've gone anywhere near 6 weeks) Extending this to all liquid caloric intake (except for fruit smoothies I make as a meal replacement. ) Keeps the brain sharp and less useless energy going into the body. Reducing Stuff in my house is just something I've wanted/needed to do for a while. In some cases I'll consider a box of stuff (e.g. electronics for recycling) one item. Easier to pickup and move when the time arises.