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Hello there, I'm Sacculina and have been reading NF since 2010 or so, been part of the NFA since the beta testing for women only, and even started Rising Hero's during the first month, yet I have not made any lasting improvements to my health. I have found new friends through NF and even had the 20 seconds of courage to start my own group called the Nerd Scouts. I haven't been faithful to NF though. I started to read conflicting articles from The Greatist, MFP, etc which caused information overload. I had intense debates with other medical professionals which required me to start down the rabbit hole of research so I can prove them wrong, but I wasn't doing what I was proslyetizing. I fell victim of stress, burnout, and exhaustion. Mentally, I was not prepared to break bad habits even though I knew what needed to be done. I felt like I was wandering aimlessly with no one to point me into the right direction, my soul wasn't into guiding my corporeal body through the obstacles of life. So what changed? What made me finally get a grip? I'm still trying to figure it out. I adopted my dorky dog, Muggles, in August and he has single-handedly pulled me out of the soul-sucking darkness that was my anxiety and stress. Coming home to him and my husband makes me smile whenever I think about it. He has become my partner-in-crime during late night walks. Even my husband seems much happier. Unfortunately, he is also causes time to spiral out of control. One minute we are out on a walk and then next it's time to go to bed. Add a full time job and cooking. I am restarting NFA today. I will remove all the websites that I feel aren't helping me such as The Greatist, MFP, etc and focus on taking one step at a time. That's the end of my rambling. Have a good day, everyone!

Hi. I'm new here. I stumbled across this site a few days ago when I was looking up intermittent fasting, which I find fascinating. I love the concept, the attitude, and the community, so here I am. I'd say I'm nerd-ish, but that's mostly because I don't spend as much time being nerdy with my fellow nerds as I'd like. Two kids, one gall bladder, and 3 1/2 years ago, I was pretty healthy--fit, a healthy weight, eating well, reasonably happy. I've struggled with all these things all my life, and I thought I had them all figured out. Not so much. The pregnancy hormones telling me to EAT ALL THE THINGS ALL THE TIME!!! kicked me back into unhealthy eating habits, and I was so exhausted (it's hard work growing a human being) that I slid back into slug mode. Add the two little sleep-terrorists (I cannot remember the last time I slept 6 hours straight, much less 7 or 8), and you have the perfect recipe for now-me--BMI 32+ (!), binge eating crap, legs achy after just a 20 minute walk. WTF? That's just not working for me. I gave a lot of thought to what motivates me. Without a doubt it's my kids. They're aged 8 months and 30 months, and they're delightful, if I may say so myself. Yes, I want to be healthy again for myself, but what really gets me off my butt is wanting to be healthy and happy to be a good example for them, to have the energy to play with them, and to be around for them for a long time. I didn't have any of that from my parents. Sooooo...... My main goal is to get back to a normal-range BMI by the end of the year--that's 136 lbs for 24.9, a 42 lb loss--via cleaning up my diet and moderate exercise. I'd like to get back to my "fighting weight" of 120, but I plan to re-evaluate my goals as I become more fit. I started a sort of fitness diary, and here are my goal, current lifestyle mods, and progress-monitoring plan: Goal: To have a BMI of 24.9 or less (136 lbs or less) by December 31, 2015 To do this, I will 1. Eat no more than 24 g of added sugar (none from HFCS) daily, 2. Eat only between the hours of 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., and 3. Spend at least 60 minutes being active every day. This can be formal exercise, walking, yard work, house work, or active play with the kids. To log my progress, I will take monthly photos, frontal and side views, both clothed and in underwear, and I will weigh in monthly. So far, so good. I started this quest on May 22, and I've taken my photos and stepped on the scale. I've done great with my eating, haven't had a mis-step there yet, but the Beginner Bodyweight Workout kicked my ass. Well, my quads. I did two sets, which was a set too many, and caused myself days of pain--not achiness but actual NSAID/analgesic-required-to-sleep pain. Stupid lunges! Today I'm feeling much better, capable of moving again, and I shall!

I've been sat staring at my computer screen for the last 20 minutes unsure of what I want to achieve out of this six week challenge but then I started thinking about the past two weeks and I knew what I wanted to do. Last challenge I started and then disappeared of the face of the earth to the point where I became really unhappy with what I was doing with regards to Fitness and Health. So I started up my blog and restarted the Academy. I went through all the quests again and it has helped me take a step back and understand how to start fixing the problems I have created. I am at the end of my initial 2 weeks where I get myself back into a routine and then assess what I am doing right and where I may need to change things. And that is why I am back here again for another six week challenge. I need the accountability and the support these forums offer to make sure I stay on track. Sometimes all it takes is for me to browse through other people's challenges, see what they are achieving and it gives me a small kick up the backside if I am slacking. Last challenge I rarely logged on (instead putting my time into browsing the internet aimlessly) and I want to change that. So this challenge will be: No Nonsense or Excuses. 1) I will exercise two times a week Complete a pull upRun in the NF Pumpkin Pi 5k Virtual Challenge2) I will eat well one sweet a daycook two meals for my family3) I will be less dependent on my computer Read 6 booksCreate a scrapbook journalSide Quest: 4) I do not waste my money a pool of money to spend on non-necessities (e.g. music, dvds, geeky stuff). In the past I've found I make things too complicated by trying to achieve too much. So I'm tried to simplify things a bit this time round. I've also jumped back into my Ultimate Quest! Got a lot to start crossing off!

So I was not planning on doing a challenge this time round because....well my excuses are pretty lame hence why I am now writing this. Since I started my full time job (4 weeks ago) I have not exercised once. The only exercise I get is walking to and from work to the train station. I'm feeling miserable. Not only is there lack of exercise in my life but my diet is slowly becoming more unhealthy. I can feel myself becoming...depressed is probably the wrong word but I don't know how else to describe it. The worst part about the slump I am currently in is that my knee pain that had disappeared about 6 months ago is back. I had convinced myself I didn't have time to do the challenge this time but over the week as I've become more miserable about myself and my body I realized that I need to take part. Need to force myself into exercising and cleaning up my diet and challenge's have worked well for me in the past. So this is my challenge: Getting back on track. Fitness Work out at least once a week.No excuses. I may struggle to work out doing the week as my hours at work can be a little unpredictable but my weekends are not. I will work out once either Saturday or Sunday. Squat ChallengeSquats really helped my knee pain I the past as weak knees is the cause of the pain. So there's a squat challenge I will be following. I can easily do this when I wake up before I start my day. Diet One sweet a dayI've been eating way to much chocolate/sweets/cake. So for this challenge I am only allowed one sweet thing a day. (My sister has just had her 18th and there are currently 4 different cakes in the house!) This will be quite challenging as there is always food in the office I work in. I didn't want to give myself to much to focus on this challenge. I need to ease myself back into it. I do have a question for anyone reading this...and that is how do you record your challenges on a day to day basis? I have a spreadsheet but have found it doesn't motivate me to keep going. I think I need something more visual so I see it when I wake up or something like that. Anyway, I'm week late but ready to get back on track.

Hi Everyone! Even though I have played sports all of my life I have never been a healthy person. I have horrible eating habits, I always make excuses not to exercise, thus I am not happy with my body. I am 100+ pounds over weight. That stops now. My Goal: I currently 295 lbs. I want to 200 pounds by Christmas. Quest 1: No Soda! I do not drink much of it now, but it is a BIG temptation at work. By completing this I know my confidence will increase! Quest 2: Walk a minimum of 10 min per day. With beginner strength training 3x a week. Quest 3: Limit pasta to 1x a week. Life Quest: Put 30 min of "me time" aside every day. By doing this I hope to lower my stress and increase my peace of mind. Motivation: Our little girl is 6 months. I want to be able to be in pictures with her without being embarrassed or ashamed of myself. I also want to keep up with her activities.

Hi everyone, I'm Christine, I'm about to be 38, I'm 5' 11'', and 280 lbs (i think - don't own a scale). I have Type II diabetes, am on insulin. I was reared on diets, not religion. I know it doesn't work. I need to change the way I think about health, and just be healthy. I've got 1000 excuses. I've got a 10 year old with severe autism, a 2 year old who is in to everything. I'm a sugar addict and I deal with stress by eating sugar so I don't become a screaming lunatic at my kids. Autism is incredible stressful - my son has gone through a major regression and won't go to school. I spend my days driving back and forth to different therapists for my son, fighting with the school district, filling out insurance forms, trying to write (my freelance job) and running after my toddler. Sugar is not a good way to cope with stress. I found NF while writing an article for a health website. I had to compare a bunch of fitness blogs for women, and I fell in love with NErd Fitness. I've been search for a community and a philosophy that I might be able to stick with, and I'd been looking into Paleo/Primal for a while. NF feels like a home for my nerd girl heart (I've got a bachelors in bioengineering and an MS in pharmaceutical chemistry, even if I now work as an author and health writer). My husband (who is also diabetic, though not as overweight) and I have committed to primal eating or a week now, and I've been trying to exercise every day. The beginner body weight routine is kicking my butt, but i feel awesome. I've got my fitbit running to keep me motivated to move as much as possible. My blood sugars are down in the morning to 104, 105 after months at 160, 165, and this after dropping my insulin from 40 units to 30! I am so excited. I'm having fun with cooking primal, i fell in love with pureed cauliflower, and zuchini noodles with bolognese. I'm eager to give and get support and inspiration from all of you here. My pie-in-the-sky beginner mistake goals - Live long enough to see my toddler graduate college. Don't yell at my kids when stressed in the late afternoon when sugar deprived. Try to move my butt more. Jiggle less. My real goals: Get my HBA1c down to 6.5 or lower (it's at 9.6 now!! ack!!), my fasting bs less than 90. Exercise, drink tea or meditate to lower stress so as not to lash out or eat crap. Do strength training 4 times a week, move at least 30 minutes every day, at least 8000 steps. Go from a size 24 to a size 18 within 6 months. Eat clean. To everyone out there with a lot on their plate - make sure most of it is vegetables! Christine aka ASDBigMomma

GoodDoug looked at the Ranger Guild Leader sheepishly. His last "mission" had been to complete Boot Camp, and he had failed at that. The mission before had been a narrow success, but not one he was proud of. "It's time you stopped making excuses, half-ogre. I stuck my neck out for you, I think there is a ranger somewhere in that oversized body of yours," the Guild Leader paused, letting that sink in, "You need to go back to what made you successful in the first few missions." GoodDoug nodded, his last mission had been hampered by excuses from the very beginning. He could already feel the excuses welling up for whatever was coming next... could he do it this time? Could he ignore the excuses and get this one done? Only one way to find out. "What do you need me to do?" The guild leader sighed, "I'd put you back in boot camp, but we have need of all of the rangers right now. There's been a huge uptick in undead activity all over the place. We've got others searching for the source, but we need you out there beating down some skeletons and zombies. Most of the activity seems to be North of here, so make your way North and help out where you can. We need you to start yesterday, if you get my meaning." GoodDoug nodded again, no time for making excuses or procrastinating... just get out there and do it. GoodDoug stood up and started gathering his things for the trip. The Guild Leader paused at the door, and then spoke without turning, "If you want to prove that you belong in the Rangers, now would be the time to do it." He walked out. GoodDoug grimaced, "The only failure," he told himself, "is failing to try again." Last challenge, I had a whole bunch of great excuses as to why I didn't do well. In fact, I had started the challenge by outlining how hard it would be... making excuses from the beginning. This time, no excuses. And I will be going back to what I made work in my Valley of the Dinosaurs challenge: specific weekly goals, unwillingness to make excuses, commitment to keeping up with the forums and a fun narrative. Main quest: Get stronger and leaner. (Save the world from the Corruptor) This is going to be an ongoing quest, I hope to do it over 3 challenges (3 Acts) Goals: Lift heavy, move often. As with my dinosaurs challenge, this will be weight moved per week. I will move 7 tons per week. This will be a combination of deadlifts, squats, bench and accessory exercises. Now that I have a gym to go to with great equipment, there is no excuse. Str +3 Sta +2 Eat right. This will be a combination of things I've done already, but need to get back on track with. I will eat Primal 6 days a week (one day off for when I'm in the office and have access to great free food), I will consume 100+g of protein daily, I will do intermittent fasting 4 days per week. The IF will consist of stop eating at 8pm and don't start again until 12pm. This goal will be written into the story. Con +4 Str +1 Sleep well. I was doing better at this, time to get back into the swing of things here. I will get at least 8 hours of sleep 6 nights a week. I'm going to let naps count for this one as well, so I don't have room to make excuses. Wis +3 Str +1 Cha +1 (More sleep should make me less of an ogre!) Why am I doing this? I want to stay healthy and feel good about myself.

01/02/13 Started my battle log a day late, mainly since I remembered only today that NF has forums. :-) I'm prepping for the first evern NF 6-week challenge (Rebel Fitness Guide; Level 1 Rookie), beginning on 01/07/13 by eating healthy (teas for breakfast with wheat toast, light salad lunch, chicken and salad for dinners) and getting lots of rest. My extremely hectic schedule calls for rest, or else I won't be successful. PROS- I live less than ten minutes from the gym, and twenty minutes (walking) from work. I won't have an excuse not to work out AND to walk to and from work to squeeze in some extra calorie-burning. CONS- getting healthy and affordable food in Nairobi. Fast food is the easiest option for someone like me who doesn't have a kitchen, which is not an option. So I have to plan my meals on a monthly basis when I can get access to a kitchen to cook. Let's GO!